
oreE^ 

Less Monty 



MORE EGGS 

for LESS MONEY 



"The farmers are the founders 
of civilization." 

— Daniel Webster 



BASIC FEEDS COMPANY 
1019 State Street, Lockport, Illinois 






COPYRIGHT, 1922 

BY BASIC FEEDS COMPANY 

LOCKPORT, ILLINOIS 



KOV 2S (922 



©C1A689832 



•U/* 



MORE EGGS 

for LESS MONEY 

BACK in '49 the American farmer faced a grave crisis. The 
California "gold rush" had virtually stripped our farms 
of their man-power. Crops, planted at great cost, stood 
rotting in the fields and their owners were powerless 
to save them. 

In that crisis American inventive genius saved the day. Cyrus 
McCormick perfected the reaper, enabling one man to do the work 
that formerly required many men. 

Today the American farmer faces a problem far greater than 
that of '49. Land values, wages, everything he must buy^ continue 
to bring high prices. But his grain, cattle and hogs, on the other 
hand, sell at prices that are often lower than the cost of their pro- 
duction. 

As a result we see thousands of farmers working long hours, 
practicing every possible economy, and utilizing the most scientific 
methods of land cultivation, who are facing an actual loss at the 
end of a season of hard work. 

How can this crisis be met? How can the farm be made to 
show a fair profit in lieu of a loss? What can be done that will 
increase income without adding materially to expenses? 

A farm, like a factory, is no.thing more nor less than a big pro- 
duction machine. And, like a factory, it can show a profit on almost 
any combination of products when prices are high. But when prices 
drop conditions change. Then both the factory executives and the 
farmer must lay plans to increase production on products that bring 
maximum returns from minimum outlay. 

A Practical Solution 

Men who are studying this problem on a basis of hard, facts and 
cold figures are demonstrating that the practical solution lies in 
greater production of poultry on the farm. 

Statistics prove that the hen, heretofore generally regarded as 
something of a farming "side line", is worth more than any other 
farm animal "on the hoof — rarely less than twenty cents to twenty- 
five cents per pound. 

Now, if you farm 100 acres, and keep 500 hens, you keep five 
hens to the acre. Each hen, when properly cared jor and properly 
fedy should lay twelve dozen eggs per year. These eggs should 

(3) 



More Eggs for Less Money 



bring (when the laying average is maintained during the winter 
months) an average price of thirty cents per dozen. This means 
that each hen returns $3.60 per year. Estimate her yearly feed cost 
at $2.50, a very liberal figure, and We find a yearly net profit ON 
EGGS ALONE of $1.35. This means, on the farm keeping five 
hens to the acre, a net profit of $6.75 per acre per vear. 

A profit of $6.75 from a second crop, produced on the same ground 
that grows the other farm crops, is certainly worth considering. 
Furthermore the hen, unlike a hog or a steer, does not have to be 
marketed to return a profit on its care and feed. Eggs alone pro- 
duce the profit referred to above, and the hen remains to produce 
additional income in the form of additional eggs or as marketable 
meat. 

But successful poultry raising — steady egg profits — requires a 
clear understanding of care and feeding. A steady supply of eggs 
during the season of top prices is not the result of chance. There 
are certain simple things that must be understood and certain rules 
that must be followed to reap the greatest egg harvest. 

The aim and purpose of this booklet is to explain the essentials 
of maximum winter egg production; to show exactly WHY some 
fiocks are returning big profits to their owners and HOW any 
flock can be developed as a real money-maker. 

Winter Eggs 

Poultry keeping can only be successful in its results if certain 
definite, simple rules are followed. The following pages give what 
we believe is a clear statement of the logical reasons for those 
definite rules. 

Success is determined by the profits returned by the birds in 
winter eggs because experience has shown that there is no profit 
in keeping birds nine months of the year without eggs even though 



"0« the farm, poultry occupy a distinctive place, for a fair-sized flock may be 
kept to a considerable extent on land occupied by crops. Here they will not only 
gain much free food, but they will also benefit the crops by devouring injurious 
bugs, grubs, and worms. They are largely cared for by the women and children, 
and thus do not compete for labor with other lines of farming. General conditions 
are highly favorable for the far7n flock, of moderate size, even tho the feeding and care 
often receive little attention. Range is abundant, numerous buildings and trees 
provide protection from sun and wind, and epidemics of disease are much less 
serious than where large numbers of birds are kept under intensive conditions. 
It is due to these advantages of the farm flock that most of the spectacular iarge scale 
poultry enterprises have failed.'" 

— Henry and Morrison, "Feeds and Feeding," Page 377 



More Eggs for Less Money 



5 



"Feeding is one of the 
most paramount questions 
to the poultry raiser." 
— Dr. B. F. Kaupp, 
"Poultry Culture," 
Page 250 



there is a big egg yield during the remaining three monthsj for 
these latter months cover the period of low market prices. 

The rules of success, then, must cover these nine months which 
are outside of Nature's original plan. In growing a laying pullet in six 
months we have cut Nature's time in half, but in requiring the hen 
to lay for twelve months we are attempting to stretch Nature's 
originally-planned period four times its original length. 

This stretching or expanding process is part of what we generally 
call "Domestication". It is not a complicated process, once simple 
conditions and the original plan are understood, and is accomplished 
in the back yard rather than in the laboratory and by the farmer's 
wife or the "back lotter" rather than by the scientific technician. 

The basis of successful poultry keeping 
lies in the maternity of the hen, in her 
ability to reproduce herself hundreds of 
times a year. The measure of that success, 
as before stated, is in the number of eggs 
received OUTSIDE of the three natural 
months. This is accomplished by a prac- 
tical application of basic principles which 
tend to expand Nature's plan. These principles can be applied suc- 
cessfully by any one, once they are analyzed and clearly understood. 

Nature's Plan 

The original Jungle fowl, like the wild bird today, laid eggs only 
for the purpose of reproduction. Why we chose to domesticate the 
Jungle fowl rather than the turtle does not matter. Both produced 
eggs for a short period only, one laying a few eggs singly on several 
successive days and the other laying many all at one time. 

The ideal time for reproduction was the warm, balmy spring 
and the Jungle fowl having accomplished that purpose, like the 
turkey today, laid off after her hatch. Some way she was able to 
control the making of the yolks and once a "litter" was laid, made 
no more that year. 

Nature's plan was a yearly cycle, but with certain very definite 
climatic and physiological conditions restricting the plan at every 
point. 

Because of the physiology of the hen herself, and in conjunction 
with Nature's climatic conditions and plan for the life of vege- 
tables, it was impossible for the fowl to reach laying condition 
inside of from nine months to one year after being hatched, or to 
lay eggs except for a limited period in the Spring. Either part of 
Nature's plan would have acted as a complete bar to early develop- 



More Eggs for Less Money 



ment or continued production, if human intelligence had not been 
brought to bear on the problem. In other words, any increase in 
egg production beyond the normal three-month period depends on 
the poultry keeper's knowledge of how Nature's plan may be 
altered. 

Our efforts, then, rest on two separate foundations and our aim, 
Successful Domestication^ must be the arch rising from and con- 
necting the hen's physiology and Nature's vegetable life cycle. 

On the one side is the fact that all energy originates with the 
Sun, but is unavailable to the members of the animal kingdom 
except as absorbed through digestion of plant life. On the other 
side is the fact that, except for a short period, vegetable life is 
largely yz<^r(?. 

This fibre, while of considerable value to some forms of animal 
life, is valueless as a poultry feed because it only becomes digestible 
when attacked by bacteria found only in the large intestine — some- 
thing which the hen does not possess. 

As all heat and energy originate with, and in, the Sun, all feed 
must be a combination of heat, energy and growth units. Plant life 
alone, having power to utilize the Sun's energy becomes the medium 
through which Animal life secures these life giving forces. 

To get the Sun's energy, which is stored up in the plant, it is 
necessary for the animal to eat part, or all, of the plant. 

Fibre, which in large part makes up the bulk of the plant, is 
(in most animals) digested or broken up by bacteria in the large 
intestine much as refuse is broken up and decomposed by bacteria 
in a common septic tank. As Nature made the hen with only a 
very short large intestine, equivalent to none at all, no matter how 
willing the hen may be to eat fibre it is valueless to her because she 
has no means of digesting it. 

As the hen only laid eggs for the purpose of reproduction. 
Nature apparently saw no reason for providing her with white 
making material outside of the short spring season. Under those 
conditions there was no reason for providing the hen with a large 
intestine, since she was not expected to lay during the months 
when plant life is largely composed of fibre. 

Hence, it will be readily seen, that at the outset of our attempt 
to increase winter egg production there are two well-defined condi- 
tions that we have to surmount for the hen. 

From those two chief conditions radiate most of the problems of 
getting more eggs for less money. As every poultry raiser knows, 
even now (when highly domesticated) the hen slows up in egg pro- 
duction as soon as plant life begins to arrive at the fibrous part of 



More Eggs for Less Money 



its life cycle. There are still plenty of the carbohydrate elements 
other than fibre in the feed world, but it is these that go toward the 
maintenance of the hen's body and the making of ovaries or yolks. 

These are conditions which we would all like to change. It 
would simplify matters greatly if fibrous plant life could be made 
into egg-producing material by the hen. But there seems little hope 
that we will ever be able to grow a practical large intestine in the 
hen, even if we wanted to, and it is therefore simpler to take con- 
ditions as they are and plan our feeding to meet Nature's conditions 
as we find them. 

There are some manufacturers of poultry feed, and some breeders 
of poultry, who endeavor to fool themselves and the hen by in- 
cluding some green-colored material in the feed, in the hope that 
the hen will think this dry, powdery, green-colored material is 
succulent, crisp and tender. Nature, however, can not be fooled. 

There are others who think that vegetable life contains only 
protein and that vegetable protein is cheaper than animal protein. 
They forget, if they ever knew, that in the last few years were dis- 
covered the most important elements of feeding stuffs, i. e., VITA- 
MINES. Furthermore, so far as science now knows, there may be 
twenty or thirty more substances present which may have almost 
as great bearing on the value of the product for dietary purposes. 

We know now that each little molecule or atom, too small to be 
seen by the naked eye, may contain several different proteins^ one 
or more fats, fibre, animo-acids of various kinds, such minerals as 
iron, phosphorus, calcium, etc., and more important than all others 
together, one or two or three of the four known vitamines. The 
lack of knowledge of what poultry needs has not only reduced egg 
production but has led to some very disastrous results. 

A careful reading of the following pages, however, will make 
clear the basic reasons for past failures and chart clearly the tested 
and safe method of avoiding them in the future. 

A Few Common Errors 

In spite of the stumbling blocks set up by Nature, the feeding of 
poultry for maximum egg production is comparatively simple. 
Given reasonably good birds, pure, wholesome, properly-milled feeds 
and the production of eggs in reasonable quantities is assured. 



''The force feeding of fowls for growth into broilers, as well as in egg production 
as applied to mature hens, both call for a higher percentage of mineral nutrients in 
feed stuffs than was necessary under the old system of less intense production. 
Minerals are also required for growth and repair.'' — Ibid. Page 268 



More Eggs for Less Money 



However, these conditions are not always present. Many dis- 
appointments and flat failures can be readily traced to lack of what 
was, apparently, a very unimportant item. 

Unfortunately, all animal husbandry practice is filled with super- 
stitions and untruths that are so interspread with the actual facts 
that much confusion results. 

We hear, for example, that rats are bad for kittens because they 
give them fits, the idea being that some inherent quality of the meat 
of the rat carries a poisonous substance. The truth is that there is 
nothing inherently wrong with the meat of a rat when fed to a 
kitten. The trouble lies in the fact that the rat's body is large, 
relatively, and the kitten is small, so a rat is bad for a kitten in that 
he causes a digestive disturbance because (to a kitten) he represents 
an overdose of protein. 

Again, it is a common belief that salt will kill chickens. So it 
will, just as corn or wheat will, if the bird is starved for it for a 
sufficiently long time and is then allowed free and unlimited access 
to it. Yet no animal will live without a reasonable amount of salt 
in his ration. 

We also hear, regarding poultry, that if hens lay all winter they 
will not lay well in the breeding season, or will not lay fertile eggs. 
Because of this belief it is quite a common practice to keep hens 
from laying during the winter months so that their eggs will be 
fertile in the spring. 

That is a sample of the costly superstitions which are widely 
believed and talked, but which are not true as to fact. What is 
true in this case is that, under the rations inost generally fed poultry 
for winter egg production^ the birds which do lay numerous winter 
eggs are not able to lay fertile eggs in the spring. The ration is at 
fault, not the hen. 

It is a scientific fact that every normal, healthy hen has the 
inherent ability to reproduce herself hundreds of times each year. 

Every time the hen lays an egg she does her part to put forth a 
product that will reproduce her in so far as her characteristics are 
dominant. She is, however, at the mercy of her ration or feed, just 
as an engine is at the mercy of the kind of fuel fed it. She has certain 
instincts and abilities which are involuntary and among these is that 



"// has been estimated by Lamon and others, after careful investigations, that the 
loss on the farm due to improper care of the eggs amounts to f^^, 000,000 in the 
United States alone." — Dr. B. F. Kaupp, "Poultry Culture," Page 459 

"Ship only eggs that are produced by healthy fowls kept under proper sanitary 
conditions and supplied with sound, wholesome feed" — Ibid. Page 465 



More Eggs por Less Money 



"Common salt in con- 
siderable quantity is a 
necessity to the living 
animal body. About ^ ozs. 
to every lOO lbs. of feed 
has been found a safe 
proportion. ' ' — I bid 

"Salt increases the pal- 
atability of the ration." 

— Ibid 



of putting the necessary ingredients in the egg. She wants to make 
a fertile egg, one full of the necessary chemicals and vitamines. As 
long as these elements are present in her ration she gets them into 
the eggs. When they are not in the ration she will rob her body, in 
limited amounts, in an effort to make her eggs fertile. 

This is the probable explanation of her robbing her body of 
coloring matter. The coloring pigment, known as Xantophyll., is 
frequently closely associated with one of the vitamines and it is to 
get these, in ail probability, that she robs her shanks and skin of 
Xantophyll and vitamine. 

These vitamines are essential to fertility. It is a well-known fact 
that up until the time the hen's body is 
bleached out her eggs are usually quite 
fertile, in so far as her part of the egg goes. 
As soon as the bleaching has progressed 
to the point where shanks are quite light 
in color, however, trouble is experienced 
with the hatchability of her eggs. 

In other words, as soon as the coloring 
matter has been used up, and with it the 
vitamineSy the eggs no longer hatch as well 
as did those laid when Xantophyll (the 
coloring pigment) was present. Apparent exceptions to this con- 
dition may be frequently noted. Generally they are found not to 
be true exceptions but due to the fact that the ration used contains 
plenty of the vitamine carrying elements so that the necessity of 
robbing the body is avoided. 

This latter condition corresponds in a way to the fact that, 
whereas we now judge the amount a hen has laid by the extent to 
which she has bleached out, it is easy to feed the hen so much 
coloring matter in her ration that she will not bleach out at all, 
regardless of how much she lays. 

This superstition is similar to the false theory that the early 
molter is always a poor layer. The time of molting rests almost 
entirely in the hands of the feeder and is controllable by him — not by 
starvation, but by the reverse of that process. As a great rule the 
early molting of a hen merely means that she has been improperly fed. 

In the same way, the laying of infertile eggs by a hen not sterile 
by Nature, is only an indication that her ration is not right — is 
lacking in some necessary element. If the hen is physiologically 
able to produce fertile eggs (if she is a normal hen) almost all of her 
eggs will be fertile if she is fed a complete egg ration. She will fall 
short of fertile eggs just in so far as her ration falls short. 



lO 



More Eggs for Less Money 



BASIC FEEDS 
Help to Win Prizes 



Read what others say about Basic Feeds Scratch Grains 



Just received a letter from my old 
friend Chapman from Syracuse, N. Y., 
and from his letter he will need a trunk 
to bring home his winnings from the 
state fair. 

Well, he has got it on us just a little. 
For your information here are our win- 
nings at the PHILADELPHIA 
COUNTY FAIR, the week of Septem- 
ber 5th — not so bad. 

S. C. R. I. Reds — ist Cock, ist Hen, 
1st and 2nd Pullet, ist Old Pen, ist 
Young Pen, ist and 2nd Cockerel, and 
three specials. Bronze-medal for best 
S. C. R. I. Red Cockerel — Bronze medal 
for best S. C. R. I. Red Pullet in the 
show. Silver tray for best pen of Reds 
in show. 

White Leghorns, ist and 2nd Cock- 
erel, 1st and 2nd Pullet, 2nd Cock, 2nd 
Hen, 1st Old Pen, two specials. Bronze 
Medal for Best Cockerel, Bronze Medal 
for Best Pullet in the show. Silver Cup 
for the largest number of birds entered 
scoring highest number of points of all 
birds entered in the show. 

We have not yet had accounting of 
the money prizes, which we got a 
pocket-full. 

All of our White Leghorns are being 
fed on BASIC FEED SCRATCH with 
White Corn. 

Yours very truly, 
M. T. Banks, Genl. Mgr., 
Buckingham Poultry Farms, 
Lahaska, Bucks Co., Pa. 



I have about 200 chicks hatched the 
1st of April and all are coming along 
fine and haven't lost a one as yet. Last 
year I did not have as good luck, as I 
lost about one-fourth of my chicks. I 
fed an inferior mash to the parent stock 
and Conkey's Starting Mash. This year 
I fed Basic No. 453 Laying Mash to the 
parent stock and Basic No. 451 Starting 
Mash to the chicks and haven't found a 
one ailing as yet, which speaks well for 
Basic Line of feeds. I personally think 
that the Basic No. 451 Buttermilk 
Starting Mash is the superior of Conkey's 
Starting Mash, which costs about twice 
as much. 

I remain your future customer. 
Harry W. Fox, 
Chillicothe, Ohio. 

P. S. Conkey's Starting Mash retails in 
Chillicothe at about 7>2C. per lb. 
and Basic No. 451 Starting Mash 
cost including freight about 3^c 
a lb. I save just half the price 
and am getting a better feed. 



My White Leghorn Pullets are getting 
down to business and will be shelling 
out the eggs, galore soon. They are just 
six months old now and have been laying 
for a month. It sure must be your feed 
that is responsible for it. 
Yours truly, 

Merritt S. Wayman, 

Cornell, III. 



More Eggs for Less Money 



1 1 



The Essentials of an Ideal "Egg" Feed 

It will be shown in another part of this booklet that although the 
protein, fat and carbohydrate analysis of a given ration may meet 
with the approval of the average feeder, and though he may think 
that from the high protein content that a heavy egg production 
should follow, actual tests will show him that almost no eggs 
would follow at all. The reason for this, as will be made clear 
later, is that, as a hen is unable to digest fibre^ the high content of 
this element in some feeds that "analyze" well would reduce the 
digestibil ty of the ration to a point where little other than the barest 
body needs would be supplied by it. 

Later on we will also explain some of the necessary considera- 
tions of digestibility and palatability. At this time, however, in 
speaking of feed that may be both ideal and practical we refer to 
feed which answers the latter considera- 
tion, i. e. practicability . 

Scratch feed has to be ground by the 
hen, and when ground and digested, is 
largely carbohydrate, (or starchy) in 
character. Hence scratch feed is used for 
(body maintenance and for) the making of 
the yolks of the eggs. In its digestion, 
Jat^ as the feeder means it, is only the heat 
making material, because the fattening foods, are the sugars and 
starches which in digestion turn to fat. 

When we speak of "egg food'' we are referring to the material 
which is necessary if the hen is to coat the already-made, fatty 
yolk and turn it out as a finished product. 

This coating material is nitrogenous (largely composed of nitro- 
gen drawn from plant life) and so is the most expensive food ele- 
ment. It is as essential to the hen for egg making as is the nitrogen 
element to the plant in the plant food Or fertilizer widely used in 
farming. 

This nitrogenous material is not readily obtainable by the hen 
during the months when high egg production is most desired. At 
this season it must be supplied in what we commonly refer to as 
"egg mash". ■ . ... ' 

If, when we place the pullets in their winter, quarters, we have 
had ideal summer feeding conditions, have had fairly early hatches, 
and have well-grown pullets which are practically ready to start 
laying, we have only a short finishing off process to follow out, and 



"Birds readily suc- 
cumb t.o ptomain-poison- 
ing after : eating rotten 
meat. Birds have been 
known to suffer from 
ptomain-poisoning after 
eating putrid canned 
corn.'-' — Ibid. Page 309 



12 More Eggs for Less Money 

this process can well be carried through with the winter egg ratio?: 
for a base. 

However, most all poultry keepers have some late hatched 
pullets that must not remain out on the ground, and may have other 
only partially grown birds that perhaps have not had a fair chance 
at growth. 

Developing "Backward" Birds 

The recent experiments at the West Virginia Experiment Station, 
dealing with the influence of the ration fed to growing stock on the 
later egg production of the females in that young stock, bear out, 
what we have always contended, that stunted and badly nourished 
young stock never lays as well nor attains maximum growth like 
those birds which have been properly nourished during their growth 
periods. 

But lack of growth before placing in laying quarters can be 
partially overcome by the finishing off process in the coop. As is 
later explained, a laying hen uses about 80 percent of the ration 
fed her for the making of the yolk of eggs. To put this another way, 
the bird will first supply her body needs before she will allow any feed 
to be used for egg production. Hence, when we put the partially 
grown pullets in winter quarters, the bird is going to finish out her 
own growth before she will lay. 

In the tests at West Virginia, the previously badly nourished 
pullets made a net gain in weight of one pound between latter 
January and March first, whereas those pullets that had been pre- 
viously well fed and properly grown only made a net gain in weight 
of one-third of the amount — the bulk of their excess food going 
for egg production. 

While it was true that those which now did start growing never 
reached the same average vv^eight of their better fed sisters, and never 
laid as well, the tests reported showed conclusively that a proper 
winter egg ration will help recover some of the ground lost during 
the summer, ground that must be covered before egg production can 
start. 

Hence, when we put our pullets in winter quarters, they must 
be "finished off". This finishing off process will be long or short, 
according to how well we have fed our young stock up to that time. 

It will be recognized at once that as long as the birds are still 
partially in the growing stage, those feeds which carry the growth 
vitamines are essential for best results. We know, without scien- 
tific investigation, that the best growth materials have always been 



More Eggs for Less Money 13 

found to be the tender bugs and grass of the spring season. Bugs 
are now (during the fall and winter) out of the question, but their 
absence can well be minimized by the proper use of beef scrap in 
the egg ration. 

The vitamines which are essential to growth must also be pro- 
vided. These vitamines, however, have never inhabited the stalks 
or roots of plants to any great extent. They are found largely in 
the leaves of the plants, and, for that reason, it is necessary at this 
stage to feed cabbage, grass, sprouted oats, rape, Swiss chard, beet 
tops, and things of that nature which are the leaves of the plants 
and better answer our purpose than do the root vegetables. While 
it is true that root vegetables are just as succulent, or juicy, they 
do not carry the necessary vitamines in as large amount as do the 
leaves. 

One of the best examples of the food and vitamine value of 
the leaves of plants is seen in the diet of the "partridge", or what is 
technically known as the ruffed grouse. These wild birds live and 
thrive during the winter months largely on the buds of the birch 
and other trees. In fact, in certain parts of the eastern section of 
the United States the ruffed grouse is known as a "birch partridge." 

Basic "Growth" Materials 

It is of the utmost importance when selecting a laying ration, for 
use in connection with greens just specified for finishing off back- 
ward birds to make sure that certain essential "growth" materials 
have not been left out. 

Many laying rations do not carry sufficient material for growth 
because their manufacturers have left out oats entirely. Most pro- 
ducers recognize the value of oats as a "growth" element and 
provide them in their growing mashes, though the general practice 
is to use more ground oats (including the hulls) than rolled or 
hulled oats. 

In all "BASIC RATIONS", however, the growth material is 
supplied in abundance. "Basic Laying Mash", for example, con- 
tains rolled oats^ corn, wheat middlings, corn gluten feed, butter- 
milk and beef scrap. For this reason, when used in connection 



'''' Successful poultrymen agree that provision should be made to continue the supply 
of green feed thruout the winter. Where little or no range is available in spring 
and summer, soilage or pasture crops should be specially grown." 

— Henry and Morrison, "Feeds and Feeding," Page 383 



More Eggs for Less Money 



with the greens specified above, it provides an ideal ration for 
finishing off backward birds and quickly bringing them to the 
laying stage. 

Back through all the ages, the hardiest races and those which 
have triumphed over all their neighbors and enemies, have been 
those people which have used large amounts of milk in their diets. 
Today such hardy races as inhabit the Balkan country and are so 
full of life they are continually fighting, those races which inhabit 
the arid regions of the African deserts, and triumph over the ex- 
treme heat, are races of milk users. In the Scandinavian countries 
and in little Switzerland, two other peoples that are hardy both 
mentally and physically, there is a dairy cow for every two people 
while in our own south there is scarcely one to every ten people. 
In the former countries we have health, large stature and stamina 
to mark the race, while in sections of the south of this country we 
find prevalent such dietary diseases as pellagra and a large per- 
centage of the people lacking vigor and stamina. 

All of the hardy races mentioned above, it should be carefully 
noted, take much of their animal protein from the milk products. 
They eat some meat, but, owing to their short seasons, have not 
had the opportunity to grow root vegetables. As a result, they have 
had to depend on the leaves of some plants and the grains from other 
plants to round out their rations. 

Very roughly their diet may be said to compare with the poultry 
feeds provided in the BASIC RATION. That they have been 
races of long life and full health during the entire time, and not 
subject to the various scourges of disease, is read ly proved. 

And, as the reports from prominent poultry men reproduced 
throughout this booklet prove, the same health and vigor is ob- 
served in hens fed the BASIC RATION. This scientific diet, for 
which no satisfactory substitute can be found, is one that can be 
depended upon to keep your hens in condition for maximum egg 
production at all seasons of the year. 

Another point to be noted in comparing the elements of the 
Bx'\SIC RATION with the diet of the hardy races heretofore men- 



" T/ie relative merits of diets poor or rich in protein have been much discussed. 
The experience of the pastoral nomads of Arabia and other parts of Asia answer 
this question very definitely. A diet of ?nilk and meat with small additions of 
vegetable foods is very rich in protein and it induces most excellent development 
and great longevity." — Elmer V. McCollum, Ph. D. 

"The Newer Knowledge of Nutrition," Page 406 



More Eggs for Less Money 15 

tioned is the following: Be ng, as a rule, in countries where the 
keeping cf milk has been impossible these hardy races have all 
relied on soured milk products, such as fermented m'lk drinks, 
cheese, curd in other forms, etc. Scientific experiment has shown 
that the large content oi lactic acid in these products acts as a tonic 
and strength developer. 

Likewise, the milk content found in the BASIC RATION is 
the finest buttermilk powder obtainable that has a lactic acid 
content of approximately eleven times the extent to which this vital 
element is found in ordinary liquid buttermilk. 

A Few Practical Feeding Suggestions 

Starting with the pullets in their aying quarters, the first step is 
to "finish them off" in growth. This may be done either with or 
without supplementing the BASIC RATION with growing or 
developing mash. As a great rule the following BASIC RATION will 
be found most satisfactory and economical: 

First. A free and continuous access to 453-Basic Buttermilk Laying Mash. 

Second. One feed each day of either 130 or 455-Basic Scratch Grain. 

The reasons for specifying products bearing the "Basic" brand will, we 
think, be clear and convincing when you have finished reading this booklet. 
It is suflncient to say at present that BASIC FEEDS are not variable com- 
mercial feeds but are always uniform and milled to conform to a scientific 
formula. 

It should be noted in connection with the scratch grain directions 
given above that no set rule can be given as to the extent of feed- 
ing. For the purpose of estimate, where it has generally been 
figured that a proper ration of scratch grain is an allowance of eight 
quarts per day for each 100 birds, it is unnecessary to use more 
than six quarts of Basic Scratch Grain. In other words, if you are 
feeding eight quarts of commercial scratch grain you can safely 
reduce this to six quarts when you start feeding Basic Scratch 
Grain. The reason is that the Basic product is more digestible than 
is ordinary scratch grain and, as a result, less is required for health 
and egg production. 

This same rule (feeding in reduced quantities) may also be fol- 
lowed in feeding BASIC BUTTERMILK LAYING MASH be- 
cause, due to its greater digestibility, less will be required or eaten 
by the bird than is customary with the average commercial mashes. 
If you are now figuring an average consumption of ninety pounds 
per year per bird as the ration, you may, when feeding Basic 
Buttermilk Laying Mash, figure an average consumption of about 



i6 More Eggs for Less Money 

seventy pounds. In other words, the increased digestibility saves 
about that amount of feed per year. 

If you have been using a ration containing, say, 5 percent 7?^^ 
you have spent about ^0.13 per year per bird for waste material. 
If, as is quite common, you have used a ration containing 1 1 percent 
fibre, you have spent about thirty cents per year per bird for useless 
material. 

Average scratch feed, which contains such v/asteful material 
as buckwheat, sunflower seed , etc., carries about 5 percent fibre, while 
average commercial mash carries 11 percent fibre. It has been 
customary to urge the feeding of twice as much mash as scratch 
so that the average fibre content of the ration on that basis 
would be 9 percent. This, according to Prof. Heuser of Cornell, 
would naturally be 4 percent down the scale from maximum possi- 
ble results and would further mean a net feeding loss as compared 
with the Basic Ration of 5 percent or ^0.135 per year per bird. 
Basic Scratch Grain is 3^ percent fibre and, as this is fed slightly 
more than is the mash, the average fibre content of the BASIC 
Rx^TION runs 4 percent. 

Because of certain experiments at some of the colleges, it is now 
customary to put "calcium" in the laying mash. This is a pul- 
verized limestone or marl, ground to about the texture of face 
powder. It is believed by some that this powder will replace grit. 
However, this increases the ash content of the ration and too much 
is as bad for the hen as is an excess of fibre. 

The Truth About Grit 

This grit question is one that will cause the poultry keeper some 
doubts. On the one side is manufacturer's propaganda tending to 
advocate the feeding of powdered calcium, material in place of 
grit. In front is the old-fashioned belief that sharp, hard grit is 
best. And on the other side is the school which believes that rounded, 
rather-flat, pebbles are the best material for grit — using the old 
millers' stones process of squeezing the material between the stones 
as authority for their theory. This latter school also believes that 
the sharp corners of the grit will injure the insides of the gizzard 
of the chicken. 



"The properly balanced feed mixtures must have the proper kinds and quantities 
of AN I MO- ACIDS in the protein, the proper kinds and quantities of mineral 
matter, and feed stuffs readily digestible and assimilable. There must also be the 
proper amount of fat soluble vitamine or food hormone." — Ibid. Page 272 



More Eggs for Less Money 17 

As a practical yard stick to measure these various theories we 
have the common wild bird practice — Nature's way. The turkey 
will eat broken glass, pieces of china, sharp grit of all kinds. The 
wild duck eats quite a lot of sharp sand if it is at hand, but will take 
any kind if necessary. The hen does not throw down sharp grit 
and pick up rounded grit if given free access to both. She does not 
seem to care either way. Certainly she will eliminate fibre faster 
when fed whole oats, if she has eaten sharp grit, than when she has 
only round grit. But we seldom find the hen eating sand for grit, 
and we never find the hen, the duck, or the turkey eating sand as 
fine as face powder for this purpose, even when it is of ready 
access. 

On the same plane we find those who believe that oyster shell 
will replace grit. Actually most oyster shell is counteracted by 
the acid in the crop. In other words, much of it is eaten away by 
the acid long before it gets to the gizzard and it is no part of Nature's 
scheme to have this calcium ground by the bird unless she has 
eaten so much that it has neuturalized all the acid and the only 
way it can be eliminated is with the other waste material through 
the bowels after being finely ground. 

It is hardly possible that average poultry mortality can be 
traced to either sharp grit, to coarse limestone or to any of the 
other bases of pet theories. What is true is that large losses can 
be traced to tV.e. filler of all kinds in poultry mashes. 

What is ground by the mash manufacturer has to be eaten by 
the hen if she eats any of it. If the mash is full of noxious weed 
seed, fibre and other waste material, there will have to be a stop- 
page of effort by the hen until that material is eliminated. 

Just what other bad effects may be traced to filler, or to the 
harmful substances in the diet can be seen from results when cows 
eat onions or wild leeks, when poultry eats too much fish, when 
ducks live mostly on worms, fish, etc., and numerous other in- 
stances. Filler may not always be fibre. In the case of fish scrap, 
the filler may be ash. The hen functions well with around 4 percent 
ash, but fish scrap is often above 30 percent ash. 

Again, one grade of fish scrap may be sweet, clean, fish-flesh 
and some bone. On the other hand, menhaden is much higher in 
protein than other grades of fish (helping the manufacturer out in 
the protein ana ysis) but it also carries rather bad oils and other 
ingredients which tend to spoil the flavor of the egg. 



i8 



More Eggs for Less Money 




More Eggs for Less Money 



"The most jundamen- 
tal of all the factors which 
contribute to success in 
any enterprise is health, 
and the primary factor in 
making a faultless organ- 
ism, either human or 
animal, is the diet." 

— Ibid. Page 41 4 



How and When to Feed Layers 

Nothing has been said thus far in this booklet on the question of 
water or the manner of feeding either the mash or the scratch. It is 
assumed that poultry keepers know that dry mash is fed in hoppers. 
Most of those in general use waste the 
mash or allow the hens to waste it. There 
are, however, some that have waste 
'catchers on them. One of the easiest hop- 
pers to use is a flat box, some eight or ten 
inches deep, nearly filled with mash and with 
a section of three-quarter-inch hardware 
cloth or fine mesh poultry wire laid on the 
feed. This wire should be possibly one- 
half inch smaller in dimensions than the top 
of the box. It will allow the birds to eat the mash but will not allow 
them to scratch or hook the mash out of the box and thus 
waste it. It is urged that this box will allow the hens to foul the 
feed. This sometimes happens, but at rather infrequent intervals. 
The wires and boxes are easily cleaned so that the fouling objection 
is not, in our experience and observation, well taken. 

The feeding of scratch feed should be done in as deep litter 
as possible. If frequent additions of clean straw are made to the 
litter, this material may come to be a foot in depth. It is unneces- 
sary to have it that depth but it is not objectionable if it is so. 

Feeding the scratch feed in this straw will allow the grain to sift 
down and be covered up. In this way the birds are forced to work 
and get plenty of exercise. It is pretty generally admitted that diet 
governs how one feels. It is also agreed that humans take too little 
exercise. This holds true also in the case of a hen in her winter 
quarters. The hen has only one way of exercising, and that is by 
her toes. To keep her in good condition we must see, after having 
provided her with a good diet, that she is made to exercise properly. 
This is best accompl shed through the proper use of scratch feed 
a c utiined above. 

There are numerous theories as to the correct time to feed scratch 
feed. A little common sense will explain most of these considera- 
tions. Later on in this booklet we explain what the diet, of the jungle 
fowl is, and why; also what the diet must be if we are to be successful 
in further domesticating the modern hen. As that section of the 
booklet shows, it is desirable to change as little as possible from the 
original scratch feed diet of the wild bird, and, if we are feeding a 
fibre-free scratch, like any of the BASIC SCRATCH GRAINS, we 



20 More Eggs for Less Money 

may feed this grain more than once a day with less danger of low 
egg production than when we are feeding the average commercial 
scratch feed because the latter is usually full of oats with the hulls 
on them, buckwheat seeds and sunflower seeds, etc. 

As has already been explained, the chief material we need for 
egg production is not contained in the scratch and, for that reason, 
if this feed is over supplied or fed during the morning, it cuts down 
on the time available to the hen for eating and digesting good, 
productive feed. 

However, BASIC SCRATCH GRAINS are of more avail in 
egg production than are the average and less harm will be done if 
the hens are given a light morning feed of the choice grains which 
this feed contains. 

Best results, however, follow the feeding of scratch grains once 
a day — in the late afternoon — and the feeding of dry mash all the 
time. If your birds have a tendency to get fat on such a system, do 
not blame the system — the feed you are using is at fault. Fat 
birds result from too much scratch grain as a rule, as these grains 
are largely starchy, the cheaper grades being mostly corn. 

However, it sometimes happens that hens get fat on mash, even 
though an analysis on the outside of the bag shows very favorably. 
This may be due to a lack of digestible protein and a surplus of 
digestible fat-making material. In plain English, fat hens mean a 
diet wrong in digestible proportion. 

The principle of feeding scratch grain at night, aside from the 
consideration of small change in the natural diet, is based on a 
common sense theory. Scratch feed has to be ground in the gizzard 
— a time-consuming process. Mash feed does not have to be 
ground by the hen. If, then, the hen goes to bed with little other 
than mash in her crop, this quickly passes through the gizzard, that 
organ's work is done and, as a result, circulation slows up. 

Poor circulation leaves the hen at the mercy of the low tempera- 
ture. 

If, on the other hand, the hen eats mash all day, and fills up on 
scratch feed before she goes to roost, the store in the crop feeds 
slowly to the gizzard. As a result the gizzard functions till early in 
the morning, the circulation is good all through the night and the 
hen, consequently, feels the low temperature but little. 

Furthermore, the use of the night hours are essential if maximum 
egg production is to be maintained. And these night hours can best 
be used for the work of the gizzard, which not only grinds but in 
that same process also keeps alive the circulation. 



More Eggs for Less Money 21 

Extensive tests indicate that this coarse material (scratch grains) 
is generally ground by three o'clock or four o'clock in the morning. 
This is one of the reasons advanced by many authorities for the use 
of early morning lights rather than the use of artificial lights both 
night and morning. Whether early morning lights are best or not, 
three facts stand out for consideration: 

First. By four o'clock A. M. the hens' crops are empty and the birds are 

restless on the roosts. 
Second. Most combs that are frosted are frosted after the circulation slows 

up around four o'clock A. M. 
Third. Whether evening lights are used or not, the hens have a tendency 

to go to roost at sunset even though they are later enticed off their 

perches with a feeding of scratch grain. 

Those three facts put us squarely in front of the query of whether 
we will work with, and take advantage of Nature's instincts, or 
whether we will directly oppose them. 

An Important Point to Watch 

No set rules can be made regarding the feeding of scratch feeds 
that will not occasionally require modification for best results. 
These modifications may be the results of temperature or may be 
the results of temporary condition of the birds. 

It sometimes happens that unconsciously even a practiced and 
experienced feeder will supply too much scratch feed and his hens 
will become fat. This condition is shown quickly by the shape and 
texture of the shells of the eggs. Any hen not deformed and of 
average good physical condition will lay a majority of properly 
shaped eggs of good shell texture. The size of the egg varies some- 
what with the feed, as the better and more digestible feeds give a 
slightly larger egg. As soon as the hen accumulates fat on the in- 
testines and on the inside walls of the intestine, this fat begins 
reducing the space available for real necessary feed. 

We start with a hen with a definite feed capacity. This is 
limited to a certain extent by the stretching point of the skin of 
the abdomen. When this has stretched to its ultimate capacity 
we may say that the hen has reached the limit of her capacity in so 



^^An excess of certain kinds oj food, without sufficient exercise, may lead to a 
physiologic deposition of fat, especially in the abdominal cavity, which may in- 
terfere from two standpoints — namely, egg production and as breeders, affecting 
fertility and vitality of the progeny. As a pathologic result it may produce afebrile 
condition with blood and liver derangements, especially when the excess is protein.'^ 

— Dr. B. F. Kaupp, "Poultry Culture," Page 309 



22 More Eggs for Less Money 

far as possibilities are concerned. All of this available space is 
required for maximum laying. As soon as the fat begins to accumu- 
late on the intestines, and later begins to coat the inside of the 
abdomen, we have started to reduce the feed capacity of the bird 
just so much. The skin may be stretched to its utmost but the 
space available for yolks, full bowels, etc. is now occupied by a 
new lodger — -Jat. 

If the secretion of this fat continues to a certain point, the layer 
of fat begins to press on nerves, on the egg shell in process of for- 
mation, and on the glands and intestines. The result of this pres- 
sure is quickly apparent in the hardened shell. There are ridges, 
soft spots, often flat spaces, etc., to mar the appearance of the shell. 
They arise partly from the fact that the shell hardens in the shape 
of the inside lining of the gland and this shape is changed by the 
pressure of the fat outside of it. Another cause is the pressure of 
the fat layer on the ducts through which the shell material must 
pass, on the nerves which govern the action of those glands, and 
on the blood veins and arteries — thus impeding circulation. 

This fat pressure is sometimes shown by the egg-bound hen that 
is partly paralyzed owing to pressure on the nerves, this condition 
being relieved by the passage of the egg. Sometimes the hen "breaks 
down" or "walks sitting down" as it is sometimes expressed. Very 
often this condition results from pressure on the nerves, the pres- 
sure in turn arising from the heavy layer of fat. 

All of these conditions can be prevented by close watch on the 
egg shell. The slightest hint of misshapen shells should be remedied 
immediately by reducing, or eliminating, the scratch feed. Regard- 
less of how little has been fed before, it is too much. Remove this 
possible cause first and hunt for further causes later if you desire. 

This fat condition, by the way, also explains a great many of 
the infertile eggs. The fact that a misshapen egg may not be 
fertile is due, not to the bad shape, but to the coyidition of the bird 
which laid the egg. The same condition, pressure on the nerves and 
glands, is more than likely causing the infertility. Both results are 
effects which indicate the same general cause. 



"Some green food is essential for the best results with poultry. The value of 
these feeds lies not so much in the nutrients they furnish as in the stimulating 
effect on the appetite and on the digestive tract. Where poultry have plenty of 
range, they will secure an abundance of green feed during the growing season.'" 

— Henry and Morrison, "Feeds and Feeding," Page 383 



More Eggs for Less Money 23 

Protection From Freezing 

In line with the foregoing paragraph arises another dietary con- 
dition which it is advisable to consider. When the weather tempera- 
ture goes low it is necessary to throw more fuel, or heat-making 
material, into the furnace. The same holds true relative to the hen's 
body. On nights when the temperature is likely to range far below 
what has previously prevailed, more fuel is desirable — and this 
fuel needed by the hen is found in the scratch feed. 

It is common practice with many successful poultrymen to go 
through the coops a half hour or more after the evening scratch has 
been fed, and give their birds an additional amount according to 
judgment based on experience. Some use ordinary scratch feed for 
this purpose and others use shelled corn. The latter is high in heat- 
making material and further, being rather large, is more easily 
picked up by the birds — especially if the light has begun to fade. 

This practice, while very successful, must only be followed 
when the shape of the egg is closely watched. What may appear 
to be a very little grain to a human being may actually be two or 
three days ration to the smaller hen. It is these little niceties of 
feeding that, when practiced, show the conscientious and successful 
feeder. 

The Cause of Soft Shelled Eggs 

Occasionally a hen will lay soft shelled eggs. For many years 
this was believed to be due to lack of shell material, although many 
commercial poultrymen laid this condition to fatness. 

Recent experiments in Wisconsin, wherein Prof. Halpin kept 
hens without calcium other than that normally in the feed, indicate 
that a hen will rob her body for this material only slightly. It may 
be said to be a definite rule of the hen not to lay unless her ration 
contains the calcium needed for shells. She may possibly finish 
out a partly-formed egg, but when that is laid she will not 
further rob her body. She merely reabsorbs the yolks and ceases 
to lay till such time as calcium is furnished her. 

These experiments, and actual practice, would indicate that the 
soft shelled egg is due to a wrong condition which is likely resulting 
from fat pressure, though it may be due to another cause. In most 
cases, however, it is fat pressure and is relieved by a reduction of 
the scratch feed. 

The burning up of the fat layer is easily accomplished in cold 
weather, when the condition is not of long standing. It is harder 
and slower in warmer weather, or if the fat has been long in 
accumulating. 



H 



More Eggs for Less Money 



Some more unsolicited testimonials of the wonderful results 
obtained from Basic Feeds. 



I am using your buttermilk laying 
mash and like it better than anything 
I have tried. Am breeding Anconas and 
am out this year to get the color if 
possible. I notice a difference not only 
in the condition of my birds and the 
number of eggs laid, but also in the size 
of the egg. They are much larger since 
I commenced to feed your mash. I 
will want some growing mash, but 
would prefer to have white corn used 
instead of yellow as "they say" yellow 
corn is apt to give us that disagreeable 
purplish tinge to the outer plumage. 
What would you furnish me with a 
growing mash (buttermilk) for made 
with white corn? Would you also give 
me the feeding value of it so that I 
could mix up a scratch to go with it. 
Yours truly, 

V. H. Marcellus, 
United Ancona Club, 
Belvidere, 111. 



I have been using your laying mash 
since last December and have increased 
my egg production a little over 300%. 
It is absolutely the best mash I have 
ever used and I have tried all leading 
makes. I am getting other poultrymen 
interested in your line and would like 
to act as your agent in this territory. - 
Yours truly, 
Watson Ancona Farm, 

R. H. Watson, 
Morristown, Tenn. 



The feed was received in good condi- 
tion and is the sweetest and cleanest 
that I have ever used. The results fully 
justified all of your claims. While 
several of my neighbor's hens were 
laying just a few eggs, or none at all, 
mine were producing from 29 to ^3 eggs 
a day, right through our coldest 
weather. I had 39 hens and set three of 
them, which left only 36 possible layers. 
As soon as the others were broody they 
were put in the clucking pen and many 
of them were laying again in two or three 
days. The difference in production can 
be attributed to the superiority of your 
feed, as I had Reds, one neighbor the 
same, another White Leghorns, the 
third White Rocks and the fourth a 
mixed flock. 

Yours very truly, 

Pierre Heard, 
Augusta, Ga. 



Out of 1 10 different flocks in the same 
mammoth incubator in the month of 
May my eggs hatched 70% of all eggs 
set, 10% higher than the next highest. 
My hatch was no fluke for I hatched 
3600 eggs to the other few hundred each. 
My birds have never done better since 
putting them on Basic Feed. Believe 
me to be for Basic Feeds always. 
Yours respectfully, 

J. F. Mickey, 
Mickey Poultry Farm, 
Alexandria, Pa. 



More Eggs for Less Money 25 

This fat layer has another common manifestation in hot weather. 
The hens die on the roost during the very hot hours of the day. 
The fat holds the heat in the body and if the nights are not cool 
so that the hen's body may cool off, continuation of the heat causes 
a "stroke". These are usually infrequent among hens which are 
not over fat. 

The bad effects of fat pressure is one of the chief arguments in 
favor of feeding in deep litter summer as well as winter. As soon as 
the hen puts on fat she gets lazy and does not have to scratch much. 
As soon as this condition prevails the feathers "soften up" and begin 
to loosen and, as a result, we have early molters. The hen which is 
made to work in the summer as well as winter is likely to be a 
later molter. The hen fed outdoors on the ground, which does not 
have to work for her grain, generally gets fat, molts early, and is 
not a paying investment. 

It has been objected that the heavy "feather bed" which the 
heji carries around with her makes summer work inadvisable. In 
this connection it should not be forgotten that both the feathers 
and the heat are provisions of Nature, so there may need be no 
fear on that score. Furthermore, the hen which has been a good 
layer has a poorer and thinner set of feathers to hold the heat than 
has the non-layer. 

A Feed-Wasting Practice 

The practice of letting laying hens run outdoors on the cold ground 
in winter weather is one over which there has been much discussion, 
Actually it comes down to a question of feed. The blood is heated 
by feed. It also circulates in the feet of the hen. If the hen goes out 
on the cold, wet ground she will unquestionably cool her blood, or 
will require more feed to keep it at proper temperature. How 
much feed it will take is not the important question. As long as it 
takes any, it is enough to make the practice inadvisable. 

At the farm of C. H. Wyckoff & Son at Aurora, N. Y., they 
guard against this condition by sowing their breeding yards with 
rye. This green stuff supplies early feed and also keeps the hens' 
feet out of the cold ground, especially at the time when the frost is 
going out. 

Warm Feed vs. Cold Feed 

The hen's crop is located outside of the body of the hen although 
it is inside the skin and feathers. It does not seem to affect the hen 
in any way whether she is fed warm or cold food. All food is kept 
in the crop till it has reached body temperature. If this food has 



26 More Eggs for Less Money 

been warmed it is held till it has cooled to body temperature. If 
it is frozen or very cold it is kept there till the temperature is raised. 
Neither practice seems to alter the body temperature of the hen or 
to require an appreciable increase of feed to make the change. 

The practice of feeding frozen material to the hen is not, how- 
ever, a good one from other considerations. Freezing may change 
the chemical form or analysis. Unquestionably freezing hurts 
sprouted oats and for this reason these should be fed during the 
warm part of the day so as to minimize this harm. 

The Winter Water Supply 

Watering poultry in cold weather is no longer the difficult problem 
it used to be. There have been perfected the thermos drinking 
fountains with a wide tight air space, and those fountains under 
which a light is kept. 

There is some natural objection to going to bed with a kerosene 
lamp lighted in the poultry house, but at a number of farms like 
that of C. H. Wyckoff & Son at Aurora, N. Y., they use an electrode, 
heating the water with an electric heater. Others have used small 
portions of electric flat-iron units under the water pails and kept 
the water from freezing in that way. 

Where there is a will there is a way, and the manner of watering 
poultry does not particularly matter so long as it is done con- 
tinually. The animal body depends for sustenance on a constant 
circulation of water borne materials, and this circulation can not 
be kept at its prime unless the water supply is ample. Liquid is as 
essential to the hen as to any other animal. 

How TO Feed Grit, Oyster Shell and Charcoal 

Grit, oyster shell, charcoal, etc., form a part of the normal laying 
ration. While these are unquestionably necessities none of them 
have a place in the mash or scratch feed. Too much charcoal is as 
bad as not enough. The hen herself is the best judge of her require- 



"tVhen an excessive amount of water has been taken into the body the excessive 
amount is not stored, but escapes through the bowels or is eliminated by way of the 
kidneys. An animal will die when it has lost lO percent of its body weight through 
thirst; it will not die from starvation till all the fat of its body has disappeared 
and JO percent of its protein. From this it will be seen that the withholding of 
water or fluid is a more serious condition than the withholding of other foods. Egg 
production is retarded by lack of sufficient water. 

Recent experiments have shown that a six-pound bird will consume on an 
average about five ounces of water in the warm summer days'' — Ibid. Page 275 



More Eggs for Less Money 27 

ments. Consequently such materials are best fed separately from 
the mash. 

Charcoal is best fed in a hopper, but there are two considerations 
regarding the place to feed grit and shell. The natural place for 
the hen to look for both of these materials is on the ground where 
her forebears have looked for similar material for countless cen- 
turies. Further, we can not give the hen too much scratching 
exercise, providing her scratching produces something. For these 
two reasons it is generally advisable to feed both shell and grit in 
the litter. Hoppers can be used, but their use reduces the possible 
exercise just so much. 

The Vital Importance of Vitamines 

In another section of this booklet we have explained something 
regarding materials that do not substitute successfully for green, 
succulent food. In the paragraphs on finishing in the laying pens will 
be found suggestions regarding the best green to be fed at that period. 

Following the finishing period there can be little objection to 
feeding root vegetables. Succulent food is as essential to the hen 
from a dietary standpoint as are the salads and greens to the human 
diet. Their deficiency in the diet makes the hen feel about as did 
the deficiency of the same materials in the human diet make us 
feel, up to the time of railroad shipment of green stuff in winter 
and the building of large vegetable green-houses near each city 
in the country. Previous to that time, the early spring always 
found the housewife out with basket and knife looking for dande- 
lions and other greens. Many of us still remember the tooth- 
someness of those first early "passels of green stuff", just as those 
who have eaten home-smoked bacon and spinach recall the, what 
Mr. Sam Blythe or Irving Cobb has been pleased to term the 
"washboilers full" of those things that we used to get. 

Thousands upon thousands of chicks have died from leg weak- 
ness owing to our ignorance as to what caused it and what would 
cure it. We knew we courted trouble if the chick did not get out on 
the ground within two weeks of hatching time. It was only when 
experiments which led to the discovery of vitamines were conducted, 
however, that we learned leg weakness in poultry was a form of neuritis 
(inflammation of the nerves, due to a vitamineless diet) and not a 
trouble of muscles or bones. 

It was finally recognized that what checked the leg weakness 
when the chick got outdoors were the food materials carrying 
vitamines and that it was the lack of these tiny but vital elements 
that had caused its trouble. 



28 



Moke Eggs korUs^Monev 




Sept 16tb, t9?: 



neplying to your favor i 



the latb Instj, 



trifiD to adTlse t-TUKKLCi' and ebOTO board t 
ten years experiences with varlouB reeds so called well knoim 
and otherwise DELKIVE YDU tlAVT i:; TjiK FTF.DS SllIPED ^O^tCar Load) 
soDething ahovo any tiling elbo I nave ever used ixorr rar above 



I putting It pretty i 



and In Q way wastelng considerable i 
to tiie Uasu) 
TlUrd I have noticed the groMeUi mori 
all tiling considered and tne satlsraj 
feeds that I nicbt say meets with tiii 
and this IS ALL TuE UAUcY bAKIS dest 
I did not start wlto it nuwi sooner, 



even tiie COST no more 
Ion In kiioolng I naTe 
QpproTal of the stock 




mM>if<iin!nn)in!)ii!iiwii)iBiiiiii^ 












lull'"' 



«* * - has ,ief ^ ,a9i^* 



rH^{ 



,.1««"* ,, va>i"- 



// 



More Eggs for Less Money 



29 



which you will 
iO«. An feadlog 
of Le^home , ar.i 

' t,ha past fsv 
lAylng Conta 




■^C.,^^ 

"»!,: 









«:£,„ " too 



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30 



More Eggs for Less Money 



Substitutes That Fail 

The farmer who thinks that alfalfa meal is a substitute for green 
stuff has been misled by selfish, harmful propaganda which has 
for its purpose the confusion of the mind of the poultry keeper so 
that this undesirable filler , green in color, could be used to raise 
the protein analysis of certain feed at small expense. A very meager 
knowledge of Nature's plan and of the chemical analysis of alfalfa 
at its various stages will dispel any idea that alfalfa meal will sub- 
stitute for green succulent food. 

The same farmer who thinks that alfalfa meal may be the right 
thing knows, when he stops to think, that it is not the right thing. 

He knows that vegetables vary as to their 
feeding value with the stage of their exist- 
ence in their life cycle. He knows that soft 
corn is corn that has not ripened, that has 
not progressed in its life cycle to the point 
where all the proper food elements had 
been gathered and combined in the kernel. 
They were still on their journey from the 
soil to the ear when growth stopped and, as 
a result, the kernels on the ear are not of 
proper and complete food value. He 
knows that oat hay, to be prime and 
proper for feeding purposes, must be cut 
when the oat is in the milk, while its food 
elements are scattered through the stalk 
and stem and head. In that condition it is much more palatable 
and of different food value to the cow, for instance, than is 
unthreshed oat straw which still contains the grain oats. 

He knows that there is a vast difference in the feeding value of 
ripened corn fodder, even carrying the ears, and even when wet 
with water, from the feeding value of prime silage cut when the ears 
were in the milk. He knows that, like the oats, the corn was cut in 
a different point or stage of its life cycle. 

Propaganda, interested propaganda, has misled the farmer in 
the case of alfalfa owing to the confusion of the word "green" when 
used to mean a color and when used to refer to an unripe vegetable. 
The word is not a synonym in the two places but has two widely 
different meanings. 

Alfalfa is green in color. But succulent food, which may or may 
not be green in color, is often unripe; it is ALWAYS still young in 
its life cycle. Above all else it contains the plant juice, and while 



"Cut alfalfa or clover 
hay, when steamed, may 
be used as a temporary 
substitute for succulent 
feed. On the farm, the 
leaves which shatter from 
legume hay in feeding to 
other stock, should be 
saved for the poultry. 
Alfalfa or clover meal is 
not better than the finely 
cut hay." 
—Henry and Morrison 

"Feeds and Feeding," 

Page 402 



More Eggs for Less Money 



31 



juice may be largely water of a kind, there is a vast difference 
between plain water and plant juice. 

Succulent food need not be green in color, for yellow carrots 
are succulent, as are also white parsnips, red tomatoes, purple beets, 
bleached-white cabbage, purple cabbage, yellow rutabagas, etc. 

And green alfalfa is not always succulent or valuable for poultry 
even when growing in the field. 

Prof. G. F. Heuser, professor of poultry nutrition at Cornell 
reporting the results of their experiments and practice at the col- 
lege farm, said that other portions of the diet being the same, egg 
production would increase up to the point of a maximum content 
of 5 percent fibre in the ration. From the point at which the fibre 
content reaches six percent^ egg production began to decrease regard- 
less of the analysis of the rest of the ration. 

Professors Henry and Morrison have made most exhaustive 
feeding tests, and their text book "Feeds and Feeding" has long 
been recognized as one great authority in this country on those 
two subjects. After their exhaustive tests and experiments with 
cattle, sheep, swine, etc., they turned their attention to poultry. 
In applying their data to poultry, as well as considering the work 
of others, they state quite plainly that alfalfa meal can accomplish 
nothing with poultry that can not be BETTER accomplished with a 
fork full of alfalfa hay. Their reasoning on this point quite plainly 
follows the reports of their analyses. 

Starting with alfalfa growing in the field and at various stages 
of its life cycle they found the following: 

Protein 

Alfalfa (average) 4-5% 

Alfalfa before bloom 4-7% 

Alfalfa in bloom 4-4% 

Alfalfa after bloom ^-9% 

In these figures you can trace the stages of the life cycle of the 
plant by the fibre content. Here is a green, succulent food, reputed, 
if we are to believe the advertisements, to 
be the ideal succulent food when dry. Yet 
analysis by impartial authorities clearly 
shows that even in certain stages of its 
growth period it has too much fibre 
(according to the tests of Prof. Heuser) to 
be a valuable egg food. Before the bloom 
it ranges close to the danger line of fibre, 
but by the time it reaches the bloom 
stage it has nearly doubled its fibre 
content and has passed entirely outside the available range. But 



Fat 
1.0% 
0.8% 
0.8% 
0.6% 



Fibre 

7.0% 

4.2% 

7.8% 

12.8% 



"/w general, the digesti- 
bility of feeds by poultry 
resembles that of swine, 
tho poultry digest even less 
fibre." 
-Henry and Morrison 

"Feeds and Feeding," 
Page 380 



22 More Eggs for Less Money 

it does not stop even there. For, after the bloom, but while still a 
"green" food, it has again nearly doubled its fibre content. 

Even then the fibre content of green alfalfa does not look as bad 
as it really is because its fibre percentage is actually higher than 
the figures show owing to the large water content. 

Let us examine what the experts found in their analyses of 
aljalja hay and alfalfa meal. Their results were as follows: 

Protein Fat Fibre 

Alfalfa hay (average) i4-9% '^•3% 28.3% 

Before bloom 22.0% 4-2% 20.5% 

In bloom 15.0% 1.8% 30.2% 

In seed \l.i% 2.5% 27.6% 

Meal 14-3% 2.0% 30.1% 

Alfalfa leaves 22.5% 3-4% ^'^•1% 

It should be noted in connection with this table that the analysis 
of alfalfa meal as reported was the average of 176 analyses. In 
discussing alfalfa, it will be realized at once that the hen never 
willingly eats the stalks of the plant, but only eats the leaves. Just 
why Professors Henry and Morrison found that alfalfa hay, when 
thrown in the coop, accomplished as much as any alfalfa meal is 
readily seen after a study of the analysis of the leaves, which is 
about all the hen would eat of the hay. A small amount of leaves 
that run above 12 percent or 13 percent fibre but did run 22 percent 
protein might do some good because of their vitamine content. 

Let us examine what happens when alfalfa meal is used in the 
mash. We are often asked to incorporate 200 pounds of meal in 
each ton of laying mash material. That would mean 10 pounds to 
each bag of mash. Assume that we did that with the 453 BASIC 
BUTTERMILK LAYING MASH. That analyzes 20 percent 
protein, 5 percent fat and 5 percent fibre, so in each bag of mash 
carrying 90 pounds of the mash material we would have 18 pounds 
of protein, 4.5 pounds of fat and 4.5 pounds of fibre. To this sub- 
stance we would then add 10 pounds of alfalfa meal which would 
give us 19 pounds of protein, 4.7 pounds of fat and 7.5 pounds of 
fibre or 50 per cent more fibre than we started with. 

To get a good perspective of what we have done, let us go back 
a little. Prof. Heuser found that above 5 percent fibre caused a 
diminution of the egg yield for this reason. 

A hen uses roughly 80 percent of her feed for body maintenance 
and the making of yolks, two functions that are hard to disassociate. 
Using the 453 BASIC BUTTERMILK LAYING MASH for an 
example, taking out that 80 percent for body maintenance, would 
leave 20 pounds of feed in each bag for the making of whites. How- 



More Eggs for Less Money ^3 

ever, of this, 5 pounds would be fibre which is in every respect 
useless to the hen as has been seen. 

Taking the table above and the results obtained by incorpora- 
ting 10 percent alfalfa meal, we still find the hen using 80 pounds 
for body maintenance, but of the 20 pounds remaining out of which 
she is to make whites, we find more than 7.5 pounds is fibre and 
absolutely waste material to the hen. 

Such a mash would leave 12.5 pounds of feed for whites or would 
reduce the egg yield more than 16 percent. On the basis of the 
extremely conservative figures of production given on page three of 
this booklet, the 15 pounds of feed in each bag represents 144 eggs. 
Any 16 percent reduction of this feeding value would mean the 
actual loss of 16 percent of the 144 eggs or a total of 23 eggs. This 
is practically all the eggs expected from the 144-egg hen during the 
highest egg-price months, December and January. And thus all for 
the sake of a few pounds of alfalfa, the entire year's profits of that 
hen may be lost and from an asset she has been converted into a 
liability. 

If on the other hand we had a low protein mash we could add 
20 percent of alfalfa meal and raise the protein content to above 
18 percent. The fat would still be under 3 percent but the fibre 
would run to 10 percent. 

But according to Prof. Heuser, 5 percent should be the maximum 
fibre content. As we have only 15 percent left, the present 10 
percent fibre has eliminated one-third of the total white making 
material and on the basis of 144 eggs has cut out the equivalent of 
several months of egg production. 

It is clearly evident, as a result of the experiments just cited, 
that were we to incorporate the alfalfa meal desired by some, or 
if we only incorporated one-half of what they ask, we would reduce 
the egg possibilities of a laying mash just that much. 

Penny Wise and Egg Foolish 

Quite naturally there has been no propaganda on the part of 
manufacturers selling "commercial" mashes to tell poultry keepers 
what egg mash will not do. In fact, they have not always been told 
what the mash would do. All they have been told is to "look at 
the protein." Well, let us look at what happens to the protein 
analysis. We started out with a guaranteed protein analysis of 
18 percent. We took out some of the real feed and put in ten 
pounds of "succulent" dry powder. Look well at that new protein 
analysis for we have raised it to 19 percent. The mere fact that we 
have at the same time produced a mash from which the hen is physi- 



34 More Eggs for Less Money 

cally incapable of making profits need not^ apparently ^ worry us. It 
would seem that we may rest content because we have raised the 
protein analysis. 

However, let us examine further: 

On September i, 1922, 433 Basic Buttermilk Laying Mash 
retailed at $58.00 per ton (Chicago). On the same date Alfalfa 
Meal retailed for I30.00. Taking out 20 percent of the real mash 
would have saved the manufacturer fifty-eight cents in each bag. 
In return he could have put in thirty cents worth of alfalfa, netting 
him a saving of twenty-eight cents per hundred pounds. On each 
ton that would mean a net saving of $5.60 and, if a manufacturer 
is making ten cars a day of mash, it will be seen that by raising 
that protein analysis to nearly 20 percent by putting in that nice 
"succulent" green powder, he has been able to put |i, 120.00 in 
"green stuff" in his own pocket. 

Or, had he elected to use 5 percent alfalfa meal, he has again 
raised the protein analysis so that it shows nearly 20 percent and 
the mere fact that he has put enough fibre in to cut the possible egg 
production one-third would not, we assume, matter much, since he 
has been able to put $260.00 into his pocket each day. 

From the viewpoint of the poultry keeper seeking maximum egg 
production, however, such practice holds nothing but disappoint- 
ment. The quickest way of increasing digestive food capacity is 
to decrease the fibre content of the ration. Fibre above 4 percent 
to 5 percent uses space in the hen's digestive mechanism necessary 
for digestible feed if the maximum laying results are desired. 

From these two examples will be had some idea of the reasons 
for the "alfalfa-meal-green-stufF" propaganda. It is often referred 
to as an example of the old saying "all is not gold that glitters." 

The same general principles apply to the use of ground oats in 
place of hulled or rolled oats — also to the other forms ol filler as 
used in commercial feeds. 

The hen is unable to utilize fibre in any form and any fibre 
analysis that shows a content in excess of 5 percent for the laying 
hen must be viewed with the greatest suspicion and distrust. 

In a limited way we have shown why fibrous material such as 
alfalfa meal and oat hulls will not do for laying mash material. It 
will also be well, we believe, to look into the reverse of that condi- 
tion and see whether some one material may hold particularly 
desirable units for poultry feeding purposes. 

At a certain stage in the digestive process, one of the secretions 
used by the animal in the digestive work is lactic acid. This acid 
has a very definite purpose in the digestive scheme. 



More Eggs for Less Money 



35 



Therefore, if we use buttermilk, or any ordinary sour milk, for 
feeding purposes we are also supplying lactic acid. This holds true 
with regard to buttermilk powder, but the extent to which it is true- 
depends on the quality of the powder used. In other words, accord- 
ing to the Bureau of Chemistry of the U. S. Department of Agri- 
culture, the lactic acid content of buttermilk products vaj^ies ac- 
cording to the degree of heat to which the milk is subjected in the 
drying process. The higher the heat the less of the acid left. 
Good powder is creamy in color and acid to taste. Brown powder 
is oven-baked and low in acid while semi-solid buttermilk has 
almost no lactic acid owing to its being subjected to an extremely 
high heat in the condensing process. At least one manufacturer 
is honest enough to advertise his semi-solid buttermilk as "low in 
acidity". 

It must be obvious, however, that the greater the lactic acid 
content in the buttermilk the greater is its value as a digestive 
agent. If then, a powder with a relatively high content of lactic 
acid is used, we are providing in the feed one of the elements that 
is necessary in its digestion of the animal protein of the beef scrap. 
At the same time we are providing a different protein, and one 
much easier of digestion, in the powder itself. 

The Importance of Palatability 

The few examples just cited gives some idea of the factors to be 
considered in the preparation or the selection of a laying ration. 

According to Dr. B. F. Kaupp, of the North Carolina Experi- 
ment Station, in his "Poultry Culture, Sanitation and Hygiene" the 
main attribute of any poultry ration must 
be digestibility, which must also be closely 
associated with palatability. 

This is not strictly true, for palata- 
bility is of the greater importance, as it is 
through palatability that we first accom- 
plish domestication. 

It has been shown that Nature's plan 
called for a yearly cycle and that domes- 
tication, or the keeping of poultry for 
profit, aims at continual reproduction. It 
is of course evident that Nature provided, in her original plan, a 
definite scheme of appetite for the hen. She likes the materials 
which Nature has provided for her because they are palatable. 
She will not willingly change from a palatable diet to an unpala- 
table one. Hence, if we are to accomplish high domestication, 



"For good production^ 
either of meat or of eggs, 
animals must consume a 
large amount of feed. 
Hence, feeds must be pro- 
vided which are pala- 
table and attractive.'' 
-Henry and Morrison 

"Feeds and Feeding," 

Page 394 



36 



More Eggs for Less Money 



These are just a few of the thousands of letters in our files 
leceived from enthusiastic Basic Feeds users. 



I think I made an error in Giant 
awards in my recent letter. Here they 
are correct. 

Jersey Black Giants 
1-3 cock 
1-4 hen 
1-2-3 cockerel 
1-3-4-5 pullet 

1 old pen 

2 young pen 

White Leghorns the largest class in show 
1-4 cock 
1-3-4 cockerel 
2 pullet 
I old pen 
I young pen 

Rocks 
1-2 cock 
1-2 hen 

1-2-3-4 cockerel 
1-2-3-4 pullet 
I old pen 
I young pen 

Chapman, 
Syracuse, New York. 



I fed the mash to my chickens, and 
egg production was great. Fed it for 
two weeks, ran out of it and had a 
couple of hundred pounds of my own 
mixing, which really was considered 
good mash until I used the Buttermilk 
Laying Mash. POSITIVELY, MY 
EGG PRODUCTION WAS DE- 
CREASED TO ONE-HALF, by the 
change. Let me cull a flock, and I'll 
guarantee to produce eggs at lo-i i cents 
a dozen with that buttermilk mash. It's 
a whopper, a real knockout. 
Yours truly, 

M. Hoffman, 
Utility Hatchery and Farm. 



Enclosed find check and order for 
feed, if it is possible to get this through. 
Rec'd a letter from S. W. Peel, East 
Falls, Pa., stating he did not know 
whether white corn was used in Grow- 
ing Mash or Laying Mash, so if your 
agents do not know what they have, it 
is best for me to get direct. Please rush 
this order as I have only half a bag of 
Growing Mash left. 

It might be of interest to know that 
two White Wyandottes pullets raised on 
your feed and still getting only Growing 
Mash has made the following record. 
No. I started to lay 4 months and 
27 days — record for 30 days 22 eggs. 
Pullet No. 2 started <; months and 21 
days — record for one month 23 eggs. 
What will they do when they get your 
laying mash? 

Respectfully yours, 

Walter L. Conklin 
Bound Brook, New Jersey. 



I am giving you the following figures 
of the fertility of my eggs set Feb. 13th, 
for hens which have been fed Basic 
Buttermilk Mash the past winter. 

Total 
Set Tested Out Clear 

Matings S. C. Reds 112 15 7 

Matings Golden Wyandottes 39 10 6 

Flock Golden Wyandottes 200 20 12 

Flock S. C Reds 300 30 15 

Many of these I am sure were chilled, 
but find this the best test I ever made 
on a February setting and I have 
hatched in February every year for 15 
years. 

Respectfully, 

J. S. Pennington, 
Plainfield, 111. 



More Eggs for Less Money 37 

manifested through high production of winter eggs, we can only- 
do so through the medium of a palatable diet. 

Although palatahility is the most essential attribute of poultry 
feed, this alone is not enough to insure a high record of egg pro- 
duction. No matter how palatable a poultry feed may be, the bird 
can not lay eggs unless the materials she has eaten are digestible 
and unless they combine, in proper proportion, the essential egg 
making materials. 

However, the fact remains that the hen is very human in her 
eating habits. She picks to please her "palate" and not her diges- 
tive organs. No matter how digestible the feed may be, the hen will 
not eat it unless it is at the same time palatable. 

Alfalfa, for example, is not a popular food with hens. All ex- 
periments and practice have shown that alfalfa meal is not as pala- 
table as clover, for instance. While the birds can be starved to the 
point where they will eat small portions of it, it is easy to prove 
that they do not like it as well as they do some other feeds, even 
though it is green. 

Given three fields, one of young white clover, one of rape, and 
one of alfalfa, the birds will often choose the rape first and at 
other times will choose the white clover first. But at all times they 
will attack the alfalfa last. 

Therefore, in summing up the qualities of alfalfa, we find very 
little to justify its use as a poultry feed. As was shown before, in 
the analyses of Professors Henry and Morrison, the high^^^^r^ con- 
tent of alfalfa prevents it from being classed as a digestible poultry 
feed. The dry alfalfa meal is always 30 percetit indigestible y even 
though we assume that every last particle ot the plant, other than 
the fibre, were to be assimilated. This assumption, however, is not 
correct. Tests indicate that alfalfa meal is only slightly more than 
50 percent digestible. In other words, when a hen eats it nearly 
half of her feeding time is wasted on filler that has no body- 
maintaining or egg-making value. 

Why Basic Feeds are Palatable 

Inasmuch as scientific investigation and practical experience has 
demonstrated so conclusively that palatabilitj and digestibility rank 



"The art of feeding lies in stimulating the appetite qj the flock so that the birds 
will eat heartily: yet over-feeding must be avoided, for this causes loss of appetite 
and makes the birds lazy. The skilled feeder seeks So feed growing, laying, or 
fattening poultry just a little less than they would like to eat.'' 

— Henry and Morrison, "Feeds and Feeding," Page 394 



/ 
/ 



38 More Eggs for Less Money 

first in poultry feed, it is of the utmost importance that the feeder 
understand clearly how these qualities are put into a feed. 

A brief description of how BASIC FEEDS are prepared will, 
we believe, explain whence comes the tasty, catchy flavor that is so 
essential in a successful, economical feed. It will also make clear 
the reason why BASIC FEEDS are so highly digestible and so 
uniformly successful in increasing winter egg production. 

The base of practically all Basic Feeds is hulled oats because even 
rolled oats have been between the hulling stones. It is from these 
hulled oats that the basic flavor comes. And it is these oats that 
make possible the wonderful texture of the mashes and make positive 
the wonderful fertility of the hens fed the Basic Ration. This flavor, 
it should be noted, is in the hulled oats not because they are hulled 
oats but because they were roasted by a special old-fashioned process. 

After fine, big, sweet. No. 2 white oats have been thoroughly 
cleaned, they are "tciln dried" in order to shrink the meat away from 
the hull and make the hulling process easy. There are two principal 
methods of acconplishing this shrinking. One way, the most 
generally practiced and cheapest way, is to dry these oats in a 
steam-heated kiln where the temperature only rises to about 200 
degrees above zero. 

The hulled oats used in BASIC FEEDS, however, are not so 
dried. They are pu: through the old-fashioned Scotch process, which 
is a little more expensive but which makes the flavor of the hulled, 
and later the rolled oats, far superior to other rolled or hulled oats. 

This process takes the oats through the old Scotch kiln, which 
is a coke fire oven in which the temperature rises to 400 degrees 
above zero. The oats are actually baked and have the flavor which 
made them so popular with the Scotch. It was only when the com- 
mercial idea of doing things quicker and cheaper came into vogue 
that some manufacturers in this country began to change from the 
coke fire oven process. And then it was that the public began to 
discard the old-fashioned dish of breakfast oatmeal for the new 
processed fandangos in breakfast foods. Cheapening the process 
reduced the -palatability of the product. 



" Three single comb W'n'tte Leghorn cockerels were used in palatability tests. The 
feed consisted of wet mash, consisting of equal parts cornmeal, wheat bran, and 
cotton-seed meal. The birds went off feed on the fifth day, and while they ate other 
feeds readily they refused ary feed containing the cotton-seed meal. It was not until 
the lapse of three weeks that they could be induced to eat a ration containing cotton- 
seed nteal, and after again partaking of the mash went off feed in three days." 

— Dr. B. F. Kaupp, "Poultry Culture," Page 287 



More Eggs for Less Money 



39 



When kiln dried, in the old-fashioned Scotch kiln with high 
temperature, the oats retain all of their original nut-like, meaty flavor 
and further attain an added flavor not attainable any other way. 

To this basic, hulled oat flavor is added the palatability of 
buttermilk, and of bran, both of which are always popular with 
poultry. In addition, we provide the well-rounded flavor of the 
entire corn, finely ground wheat middlings, corn gluten feed and 
beef scrap. These materials are the basis of all BASIC FEEDS 
MASHES, the pro-portioyis of the various ingredients being changed, 
according to scientific formulas, to meet the needs of body building 
or egg production as the case may be. In the former case, however, 
it is also necessary to include rice and hulled barley as these carry 
very valuable growth materials. 

Much has been said, as you will note on reading the various 
letters reproduced in this booklet, about the "wonderful" texture 
of BASIC FEEDS. This texture is due to their efficient milling. A 
common idea of milling is that the mixed materials are squeezed be- 
tween the plates of a "burr grinder". That is not true "mUling". 

BASIC MASHES are really "milled" — not squeezed. They are 
pounded by many sets of tiny hammers making not less than 1,000 
strokes a minute. All material found in BASIC MASHES is 
pounded by these hammers till it is fine enough to pass through 
the proper screen or sieve. / 

The Vital Importance of Propei^ Milling 

In this true milling process the particles of food, containing the 
essential food cells, are not alone finely pulverized, but the walls 
and casing of the cells — even the cells themselves — are thoroughly 
pounded and hammered, broken and bruisedftill th.Q.food content is 
of ready access to the digestive juices. 

By thus breaking down and pulverizing jhe cell coverings, this 
milling or hammering renders the food value of the cells of ready 
access to the bird. When this is not done the cells, like the valuable 
food cells of the black walnut (which are unajvailable to the human 
stomach when the shell remains unbroken), ire wasted. 

While milling plays an important part, it is not alone responsible 
for the desirable texture noted in BASIC FEEDS. If the mashes 



"Many digestive derangements are caused through dietetic errors caused by 
spoiled jeeds. It is a common and popular thought that spoiled Jted^ not jit Jar 
human consumption^ is good enough for the chickens. Food that is injurious to 
the digestive canal of one group of animals is pretty likely to prove just as injurious 
to another. There are very few exceptions to this rule." — Ibid. Page 308 



40 More Eggs for Less Money 

were not made with hulled oats as a base, even this hammering 
would not produce this texture. Nor would as good a texture 
result were the mashes full of alfalfa stalks, oat hulls and the like. 
Although the hulled and rolled oats are very low in moisture, 
owing to the kiln drying process, a mash mixed with them as a 
base, and put through the hammering process, has a "feel" to the 
hands which almost resembles moisture. 

But it is neither fibre nor moisture which carries this attribute 
in BASIC FEEDS. It is the innate quality of the hammered oat 
meal. A similar example is seen in the peanut. This does not appear 
to be oily when the meat is whole, but let it be ground into peanut 
butter and a very high content of oil is shown. Oats when the hull is 
ofFhave a similar quality which is peculiar to them and can not be 
obtained in any other grain. Attempts to imitate it are unsuccessful. 

When these hulled oats are hammered and milled with bran this 
texture characteristic is heightened, as it also is with whole corn. 
But let the bran and rolled oats be reduced, and let the base of the 
mash be hominy meal or cracked or ground degerminated corn 
(from which the highly valuable and tasty corn oil has been re- 
moved) and not only is the palutability destroyed in large part, but 
the texture is almost ruined. 

Proper palatabiHty and texture^ both of which are required for 
successful domestication, only come through the use of materials 
from which the valuable elements have not been removed. The one 
exception is gluten f?ed. This material would be useless for mash 
material had not the starchy parts of the corn been removed and 
had not the manufacturing process, through which it has passed, 
made it even more palatable than the original corn. 

Practical Egg Production 

We have seen that ir compounding the egg making material (the 
laying mash) we must stick closely to two chief attributes, i. e. 
palatabiHty and digestibility. How, then, must a practical egg pro- 
ducing mash be mixed.^ 

Several years ago, when Prof. Stoneburn was still at the head 
of the poultry department of the Connecticut Experiment Station, 
it became desirable to work out the most ideal egg making formula 
from materials available at that time. Professor Stoneburn sought 
the assistance of Professor A. N. Salmon, then in the east, but 
now in Florida, and that of Dr. Prince T. Woods, well known as a 
student of poultry culture in its various phases, and perhaps best 
known as the editor, for many years, of "The American Poultry 
Journal". 



More Eggs for Less Money 



These three students together thrashed out, one Saturday 
afternoon, what has since come to be known as the Storr's Con- 
necticut formula. While it was recognized to have several draw- 
backs, it was acknowledged then and now as quite the most efficient 
that could have been created out of the materials then available. 

When Basic Feeds Company entered the poultry feed field, this 
Storr's formula was adopted as a base. But, having additional feed 
materials at hand, a most important change was made. 

Originally the formula called for equal parts of wheat bran, 
wheat middlings, corn, corn gluten feed, ground oats and beef scrap. 
Owing to the inability of the hen to use t]\G. fibre of the oat hulls in 
ground oats, and owing to having a constant supply of rolled and 
hulled oats available at the mill, the formula was changed to call 
for one part of hulled or rolled oats in place of the ground oats. 

While it was recognized that this mash, which shortly became 
known as our 93 Storr's Formula Laying Mash, was highly digestible 
in every particular, it was evident that it could be improved. The 
high beef scrap content, while lower than in some other experiment 
station formulas, was known to be a strain on the hen's kidney and 
it was recognized as desirable to eliminate the strain on all organs. 

When the average human has kidney trouble, he knows the 
physician consulted quickly taboos meat. This is prohibited 
because a very large amount of urea is created when the proteins in 
the meat are broken up during digestion. This urea has to be elimi- 
nated from the system by the kidney, and an excess of meat in the 
diet puts an undue amount of work on the kidneys in eliminating 
this by-product from the system. 

On the other hand, it was recognized that a very much smaller 
amount of urea was created during the digestion of the proteins of 
buttermilk. In addition, as has been explained, lactic acid is one of 
the secretions made by the animal body for the digestion of food. 
Hence, if enough buttermilk could be used to replace the animal pro- 
teins of the beef scrap, the strain on the kidney would be largely elimi- 
nated and a more even digestion, a more ideal condition, would result. 

By ehminating the fibre of the oat hulls, the strain of eliminating 
these had been removed, and it had also been possible to get them 
out of the way, so that they did not "clutter up" the digestive tract. 

It will be seen that much progress in the betterment of the pos- 



"7/ is not sufficient to know that certain substances possess great nutritive value, 
and that certain feeds are practically worthless or are of low nutritive value ^ but he 
must know what feeds are best suited to the varying conditions of the animal economy 
for the purpose for which it is beingfed." — Ibid. Page 250 



42 



More Eggs for Less Money 



sible results from a mash mixed by the improved formula had been 
made — particularly in the way of digestibility and palatability. 

The problem then was one of finding a real, honest- to-goodn ess 
buttermilk powder; a powder which was creamy and contained 
also a normal amount of lactic acid. Two powders were eventually 
found that met the most exacting demands and which run evenly, 
creamy and were not oven-baked. 

The experiments and the practice of each of the Experiment 
Stations of the country, as well as the practice on the large poultry 
farms of the country, had demonstrated that a combination of butter- 
milk powder and beef scrap always produced a better result than did 
either one alone. This is probably due to two chief causes. One is 
on account of the digestibility of the products, as explained here- 
tofore, and the other was due to the fact that buttermilk powder 
alone (while fairly high in protein) was not high enough — except 
when used in excessive amounts — to provide the necessary animal 
protein. However, by using a combination of the two proteins, the 
desirable balance was obtained and, in addition, both ease of 
assimilation and the tonic effects of lactic acid were secured. 

The Balanced Ration 

The result of this research and experiment was the development 
of a highly improved mash, known as "453 BASIC BUTTERMILK 
LAYING MASH". This mash is one-half of the Basic Ration, the 
other half being "455 BASIC SCRATCH GRAIN". 

During this discussion of what may, and what may not, be 
included in a poultry mash, it must have been seen that, though the 
examples given were only those of mash feeds, the theory of the 
statements must apply with equal exactness to the scratch feed. 
It matters little to the hen whether t\\^ fibre is in the mash or in the 

scratch — she can not use it^ no matter where 
it comes from. 

Because of this fact it is obvious that 
in an ideal scratch feed it is necessary to 
eliminate whole oats, or even clipped oats, 
as hulls are undesirable in any form. It is 
also important to have a ration that has 
been rid of all such unpalatable grains as 
buckwheat, which is generally the last 
grain eaten in a mixed scratch feed, sun- 
flower seeds, etc. 

In actual practice it was found that, 
when a start was made to eliminate grains on the basis oi fibre ^ 



"One of the most im- 
portant generalizations 
that can be made as the 
result of modern nutrition 
investigations is that it is 
not possible to secure a 
diet composed entirely of 
seeds of plants which will 
promote good nutrition 
over any considerable 
period" — Ibid. Page 79 



More Eggs for Less Money 



43 



palatability and digestibility^ the desirable list quickly narrowed 
down to about four items, with small amounts of a fifth possessing 
some value. The four essentials were cracked or cut corn, whole 
wheat, hulled oats, and rice. To these is added a very small amount 
of hulled barley. 

The only one of these materials to which any objection, practical 
or theoretical, might be raised is the barley. But this possesses 
useful food elements and is made quite palatable when the hull has 
been removed. 

Some few poultry keepers and feed manufacturers have been 
wont to refer to rice as a "filler". Those persons fail to recognize 
the important fact that millions of people in the world grow and 
thrive on that grain alone as the sole grain diet. Practically all 
of China, Japan, Korea, India, and other far eastern countries, 
rely on rice for their growth material, because of all grains it is the 
highest in carbohydrates. Furthermore, it is particularly easy of 
digestion and is very palatable. It is generally too high priced, 
however, for use in any but the chick scratch feeds, although many 
farms, who check feeding results carefully, demand and use it in 
spite of the price. 

Mixing a scratch grain of the three most available of the highly 
digestible, palatable grains, viz.: hulled oats, whole wheat and 
cracked corn, gives a relatively ideal scratch feed. // 7-uns a bare 
'^Yi percent fibre and for that reason makes our journey toward 
a palatable, digestible diet — the two great essentials in maximum 
domestication — much easier. 

The natural diet of the hen was seeds, grains and bugs. The 
less we depart from that original diet, the less difficulty we have in 
lengthening the time the hen will produce. She will aid us to the 
limit of her ability, if small change is made from the natural diet, 
and will compel us less and less to rely on 
extreme palatability of the mash in order 
to accomplish our object. 

By eliminating the fibrous, useless 
grains from the scratch feed, and by retain- 
ing the digestible ones, we are not alone 
keeping in the feed the principal grains 
which the hen seeks, but also keeping 
those with the most desirable qualities. 

Hence when this sort of scratch grain 
is a component part of the Egg Ration, 
less mash and less scratch have to be used, and the balance between 
the two become more nearly even. 



"To secure a high egg 
production, it is essential 
that a complete, well- 
balanced ration, contain- 
ing grain, mash, animal 
feed, green feed, shell, and 
grit, be fed." 
-Henry and Morrison 

"Feeds and Feeding," 

Page 384 



44 



More Eggs for Less Money 




More Eggs for Less Money 45 

On the BASIC RATION, consisting of 453 BASIC BUTTER- 
MILK LAYING MASH and 455 BASIC SCRATCH GRAINS, 

the feeding balance between the two seems to be equal parts, but 
if anything with a slightly greater weight of scratch feed than of 
mash in the ration. 

On the basis of recent digestibility tests, the Basic Ration carries 
about 80 pounds of digestible solids to each 100 pounds of feed. 
It is also high in mineral content, especially natural calcium and 
phosporus. Additional calcium from oyster shells is, of course, 
necessary for maximum egg production, but like the Basic Growing 
Ration, sufficient natural quantities of the usual mineral elements 
are present in the 453 Basic Buttermilk Laying Mash for best and 
normal results. 

Practical Facts About Vitamines 

Much has been written regarding some mysterious substances in 
dietary materials known as "vitamines". Just what these substances 
are chemically is not evident as yet, but their presence and duties 
are very clearly known. It may be well to explain some of the 
things we know regarding these essential attributes as they affect 
the problem of increasing egg production. 

Up to the present time scientific investigation has disclosed four 
vitamines. Each has a separate function and because of the char- 
acter of the vitamines themselves have been named: 

The "Fat Soluble A" Vitamine. 

The "Water Soluble B" Vitamine. 

The "Water Soluble C" Vitamine. 

The Calcium Depositing Vitamine, not yet named. 

Of these vitamines, the first is known as the one which protects 
the animal body from scurvy, and is associated with the fat of 
butter fat, and with some other animal fats. It is also known to 
be present in many of the cereals. Quite possibly it plays a rather 
important part in fertility. It is often associated with the coloring 
matters, carotin and xantophyll, but particularly the former. 

Evidence regarding the sources of "Fat Soluble A", its associa- 
tion with the coloring matters, and the use of white corn and other 
material devoid of these pigments, is extremely confusing to the 



"Certain fats greatly protect the cells against their faulty chemical environment 
attd enable them to utilize better than would otherwise be possible their very adequate 
calcium supply. This, we are now in a position to assert, is due to the content in 
such fats of a special calcium-depositing vitamine which is often associated with 
fat-soluble A, but is distinct from it." — McCollum, Simmonds, Becker, Shipley 
"Journal of Biological Chemistry," Vol. 53, No. 2, August, 1922, Page 307 



46 More Eggs for Less Money 

poultryman. To many it appears probable that the two are inti- 
mately associated in the yellow shank, etc., of poultry and that the 
storing of vitamines in the skin, shank, etc., of the white skinned 
bird is just as probable as in the case of the yellow skinned birds. 
As yet, however, we have no direct evidence on the subject either 
way. Certainly, however, the coloring matter in skin, shanks, etc., 
of the yellow skinned varieties is in fat which would be a natural 
source of "Fat Soluble A". Writing on this point in his "The Newer 
Knowledge of Nutrition", Professor E. V. McCollum said: 

"Palmer and Kempster succeeded in growing chicks from hatching on 
a mixture of white maize, white maize meal, white maize bran, skim milk 
and bone meal. After six weeks the birds began to fail,* but responded at 
once when pork liver** was added to their diet. The latter they showed to 
be free from carotinoids. At three months of age the birds were normal in 
size for their age. They were then given an occasional feeding of white 
summer squash and white Spanish onions. There was but a trace of carot- 
inoids in the tissues of the birds when grown, as was shown by the lack 
of pigmentation of the shanks, ear lobes, beaks and other parts of the body. 

*Probably due to lack of calcium vitamine. 
**The nearest substitute for cod or shark liver. 

"At the age of six months the hens began to lay, and seventeen of them 
them produced 893 eggs in 233 days. One hen laid 88 eggs during this 
period. The yolks were found to be free from carotinoids. A large number 
of these eggs were incubated. Viable chicks were hatched, which were 
normal in every respect except for the absence of yellow pigment from the 
shanks, beaks and other parts. From these results it appears that further 
attempts to establish a relationship between a yellow pigment and fat- 
soluble A are futile." 

The third vitamine, the "Water Soluble C" is of the greatest 
interest to poultrymen, nearly as much so as the fourth vitamine, 
for the "C" vitamine is present in the leaves of the grasses, and is 
known as the anti-neurotic vitamine. It is the absence of this vita- 
mine that is supposed to cause the great scourge "leg weakness" in 
baby chicks, just as its lack allows Beri-beri or poly-neuritis to 
develop in humans. It is present in the more tender leaves all 
through the plant world and is present in less degree in leaves of 
coarse, heavy character, like the cabbage. It is because of the need 
of this vitamine that poultrymen have always tried to get their 
chicks out on the ground within ten days of hatching. "Getting 
out on the ground" with the chick meant a chance to get his supply 
of vitamine. It points to the absolute necessity of furnishing the 



"Birds without the fat soluble vitamine will die in about two weeks.' 

— Ibid. Page 272 



More Eggs for Less Money 47 

baby chicks with some tender, succulent green feed if they are not 
allowed out on the ground in the early spring. It has, however, no 
connection in any way with the supposed lack of vitamines in white 
corn. The two necessary elements are entirely separate and distinct. 

Recent experiments and discoveries of Dr. E. V. McCollum and 
associates in connection with the calcium depositing vitamine have 
had the most far reaching effect all through the world of poultry 
husbandry. This vitamine seems to absolutely control the rate of 
growth of the young animal. With the discovery of its presence, 
and some of its haunts, has come the overturning of many pre- 
conceived ideas of animal feeding. 

For instance, it has always been believed that rolled oats were 
great growth makers for all animals. Now we know that, while 
rolled oats carry the elements essential to growth, (IF THEY CAN 
BE UTILIZED), those elements will not be of access to the animal 
unless, somewhere in his diet, is provided the necessary growth 
vitamine. 

It was found in experiments that a diet containing, among other 
things, 20 percent wheat, 15 percent maize, 9.5 percent rice, 9.5 
percent rolled oats, 10 percent peas, 10 percent navy beans and 
10 percent carotin did not produce growth even though the diet 
contained some calcium and phosphorus, unless at the same time 
the vitamine carrying materials were present. Most poultrymen 
would list all of the materials named above as growth producers, 
as would the swine breeder of long experience. Add to that diet 
or ration, however, a small amount of the oil from the livers of the 
cod, the shark, the turbot, etc., and growth would at once start. 
Such vegetable oils as olive, cottonseed, etc., were found to be 
without effect in this regard. 

However, the experienced swine breeder found years ago that 
tankage was necessary for proper growth of his hogs. He found that 
corn would not do the job, even if he supplied the pasture and its 
content of "Water Soluble C." He frequently did, however, give his 
swine much charred bones, or even portions of bones, in the scraps 
from the table, which the hens could not eat. In these fragments of 
animal bone he found his necessary health and growth material, or, 
as we now know, the vitamine which caused his swine to deposit 
calcium and thus enlarge the bones of their frames. 

Lack of these materials brought forth the use of tankage which 
carries large amounts of bone, just as beef scraps do in poultry 
feed. / nd it is in the bone meal and the meat scraps of the growing 
mash of the poultry world that we find the calcium vitamine. The 
elements that are later deposited in the bone, as well as in the 



48 More Eggs for Less Money 

muscles, etc., are present in the rolled oats, the corn, the wheat 
middling, the buttermilk powder, etc., but the tiny m'nute element 
which makes those substances available to the use of the bird for 
bone growing purposes are lacking. 

We could go out to sea and catch ourselves a few sharks, or a 
few cod, and from their livers obtain the same substance. But in 
Iowa and the west both shark and cod livers are fairly scarce so 
for the bone vitamine we go to the bone of the animal whose diet 
had plenty of calcium vitamines and so did grow. It is because the 
452 Buttermilk Growing Mash contains a large amount of the cal- 
cium vitamine in the bone meal and beef scrap that it produces 
such extremely large frames on the young stock. 

The "Water Soluble C" vitamine is extremely easy to destroy, 
especially by heat. At this time it is doubtful whether it is still 
present in alfalfa leaves which have had boiling water poured on 
them; also whether it has not entirely disappeared from the same 
leaves when they have been sun-cured for hay, and whether they 
do not disappear from the plant altogether toward the close of its 
hfe cycle. Certainly we know that much of the value of succulent 
food lies in its vitamine content, and that the more tender its con- 
dition the better the vitamine content. 

Vitamines in White Corn 

Experiments of Palmer and Kempster, as recorded by Dr. McCol- 
lum, and quoted herein on page 46, indicate quite clearly that 
previous beliefs that white corn was devoid of vitamines, and par- 
ticularly of "Fat Soluble A," were erroneous. 

This error arose, as is remarked by Dr. McCollum, from "the 
remarkable association of the Fat Soluble with the vegetable 
coloring matters, carotin and xantophyll". The coloring matter 
could be detected by chemical processes while the vitamine, known 
to be present, could not be specifically isolated. It was thus thought 
that the coloring matters were the vitamines. 

Following this reasoning, it was assumed that white corn, 
having no coloring matter, held no vitamines. Palmer and Kempster 
definitely settled that question by showing that the Fat Soluble 
was present in white corn. 



"7/ the water soluble substayice is left out oj the feed of animals as laboratory 
rabbits or rats, no sore eyes will develop, but in a few weeks there will be paralysis 
of the hind legs followed by death. This is a condition called Beri-beri or poly- 
neutritis. Nature stores up vitamine for the young bird, this vitamine being in the 
yolk of the egg." — Ibid. Page 274 



More Eggs for'Less Money 



49 



Their experiments farther appeared to show that enough of 
the calcium depositing vitamine was also present in the corn or in 
the egg to satisfy the chick's need for the first six weeks. After 
that further provision of this necessary vitamine became essential. 

Their experiments and results also made possible a workable 
hypothesis as to the bleaching process in laying poultry. It had 
never been satisfactorily explained why one class of poultry should 
store vitamines and another did not. What we know now is that a 
very simple explanation is at hand. 

We know, to start with, that the species to which poultry 
belongs has a species peculiarity of covering the skin with feathers. 
However, each class of the species has a "class" or a "breed" 
peculiarity of form and color of those feathers. Just why or how 
the turkey puts the metallic bronze on the surface of its feathers, 
while a White Wyandotte does not, has never been completely 
explained. We only know that the "breeds" have certain inherent 
abilities to break up or to put into effect known attractions or 
affinities of the chemical world. Thus the White WVandotte allows 
the vegetable colorings, carotin and xantophyll, to follow their 
quality of chemical affinity for fat and follow through digestion 
with it into the fat tissue. 

We know further that some power in the White Orpington 
breaks that attraction, almost entirely, as relates to skin fat, but 
less as regards color in the blood and ovary. 

Our theories of color breeding and selection work as a result 
of our choice of breeders (possibly females), having peculiar, active, 
chemical-eliminating or depositing ability. 

The yellow skinned bird stores fat, ladened with "Fat Soluble A" 
and with both carotin and xantophyll, in her skin; also in her beak, 
shanks, etc. 

The white skinned bird stores similar fat, similarly ladened 
with "Fat Soluble A," in her skin. But she 
breaks up the attraction of both coloring 
matters for both fat and "Fat Soluble A" 
and therefore does not store color in the 
skin. This is easily understood because 
we know that carotin has a stronger attrac- 
tion for the fat soluble than has xanto- 
phyll and, given its choice, the fat soluble 
will follow the former. 

This brings us to a new view of poultry feed and necessities. 

When the hen starts laying she begins burning more fuel, i. e., 
burns more fat, uses more for body requirements. She uses all 



"At the time of greatest 
egg production the choice 
of bulky foods should 
preferably be confined to 
those of the most tender 
and succulent nature." 

— Wheeler 



50 



More Eggs for Less Money 



These folks all know the value of Basic Feeds. We have many, 
many letters such as these from all over the country. 



Please send me 1500 lbs. of your 
Basic Laying Mash No. 453. I ordered 
1000 lbs. of your laying mash in October 
and I can say that it is the best laying 
mash I have ever used, and I have used 
all the leading brands of mashes on the 
market and find yours the best. Please 
rush this out as soon as possible as I 
am nearly out now. 

Yours very truly, 

Watson Ancona Farm, 
Per R. H. Watson, 
Morristown, Tenn. 



I have Leghorn cockerels 4^ mos. old, 
weighing 5^/^ lbs. 

Yours truly, 

Emil Wenberg, 
Dollar Bay, Mich. 



I fed No. 453 Laying Mash to my 
breeders and out of 275 eggs set I had 
two clear eggs and hatched 245 nice 
healthy chicks. The cockerels began 
crowing when four weeks old and some 
weighed i lb.-2 ozs. when six weeks old. 
Yours truly, 

Frank Palzer, Jr., 
Two Rivers, Wis. 



Your Buttermilk Mash is O. K. and 
we never got so many eggs as this 
winter since we used your mash. 
Yours truly, 

Johnson Lowe, 
Richview, 111. 



Please send me 10 bags of your Basic 
Feeds Buttermilk Laying Mash. I have 
107 hens and I am still getting from 60 
to 75 eggs a day. Why I like your feeds 
so is because the hen keeps in such good 
flesh and requires no fattening for the 
market. As soon as they leave off lay- 
ing or are starting to moult, I kill them, 
and after 10 days in cold storage at 
the local butcher they make excellent 
roasts and bring me in 40 cents a lb. 
dressed. Otherwise I have not cleared 
much after the laying season, all due to 
your good feeds. As I do not know 
your present prices, I am enclosing a 
check for $30.00, but please ship as soon 
as possible. Any balance I will remit. 
Yours very truly, 

E. Grodkowski, 
Southold, New York. 



I received the feed all in good order 
and think it is the finest I ever saw. I 
have shown it to several of my friends 
and they all say they never saw any 
mash its equal. 

Yours respectfully, 

W. A. Richards, 

Forrest, 111. 



Your Buttermilk Mash No. 453 is the 
best mash I ever fed to my hens and the 
hens like it the best of any. 
Yours truly, 

Karl S. King, 
Greenville, Michigan. 



More Eggs for Less Money 51 

available or digestible fat in her food for this purpose when on an 
average ration. 

As she needs large amounts of fat for her ovaries, she accord- 
ingly starts taking that from the skin, possibly, too, because it is all 
digested and of ready access. 

And she never replaces this fat during the laying season unless 
specially fed for it. 

This robbing process goes on with all breeds, but only shows 
readily in the yellow skinned varieties because of the breed peculi- 
arity of the presence of the coloring matter. Careful examination of 
white skinned varieties will probably show the same robbing of fat 
because of the SPECIES, digestive peculiarity. 

But in both breeds, just as in both corns (possibly owing to 
the same peculiarity in white corn and white poultry and in yellow 
skinned poultry and yellow corn), the presence of the fat soluble 
vitamine in the fat is evident. The difference lies in the coloring 
matter content, which is known to result from chemical attraction 
and not from digestion. 

And the coloring is not a result of Albinoism for we have Albino 
feathers in both colors of skin, as well as Albino skin with black 
and other feathers. 

The fat soluble does not appear to be present in the grains to 
any great extent, but recent tests have shown that it is present, in 
small amounts, and this has entirely changed previous ideas. 

Rolled oats are known to carry some fertility producing sub- 
stance but are also known to be practically devoid of "Fat Soluble A." 
Whether this fertility substance is a definite chemical, as is believed 
by some — one well-known scientist thinking at one time he had the 
substance isolated — or whether it is "Water Soluble B" vitamine 
which is present, we do not as yet know. The "B" vitamine's 
functions are not yet clearly shown. But enough is known to show 
that something governs fertility and is present in oat meats. 

The definite data now indicates that the "A" vitamine largely 
governs the skin, the "C" vitamine governs the nerves, and the 
"D", or calcium depositing vitamine governs bones. It would be 
logical to expect a muscular tissue vitamine which might well be 
"B" present in cereal grains and elsewhere. The same argument 
would lead to its governing fertility. 

The whole subject of vitamines is so complex that it was only 
recently that anyone of the breadth of knowledge and reasoning of 
Dr. E. V. McCollum made a survey of the whole literature of the 



5^ More Eggs for Less Money 



subject, co-ordinated the numerous experiments and theories and 
winnowed out the basic knowledge of the whole field. 

His efforts enable us to have a reasonable and clear understanding 
of the many necessary practices of animal husbandry which before 
have been merely practices of "floundering in the dark". The know- 
ledge now at hand opens unlimited possibilities in its application. 
It has also served greatly to complicate the feeding situation. Two 
examples, one of the simplicity and one of the complexities, will 
illustrate this point. 

Given cases of leg weakness in chicks, we know at once that 
"Water Soluble C" is lacking in the diet. This vitamine is in leaves, 
hence we feed more of the delicate succulent food. 

That is simple. 

Given slow growing birds, however, and the problem is more 
complex. The trouble may be a lack of the calcium vitamine, of 
"Fat Soluble A", or may be a lack of digestible material in the feed 
itself. Treatment would entail the feeding of bone meal first, 
additions of sour milk to the diet second, and critical examination 
of the balance of the diet last. 

Tests of hens now, to determine feeding needs, must include 
tests as to vitamine content of the feed used, for we know that 
without the vitamines life will not function normally; neither will 
feed be properly assimilated, regardless of how much is present. 

The Fruits of Experience 

It is a fairly common practice with some feed manufacturers to buy 
their cracked corn from the corn oil factories. This cracked corn 
is known as "degerminated corn". The practice of using it is rapidly 
disappearing, however, because it has been found the hens would 
not eat it to advantage for extended periods. The hen feels about 
her corn, apparently, about as a rat feels. The rat has the means of 
taking what he wants and leaving the rest. Accordingly he eats 
the germs out of numerous kernels because he finds they are most 
palatable. 

Some feed is mixed with various by-products of breakfast food 



''''The low egg production of any farm flock is undoubtedly often due to the ex- 
clusive feeding of corn. Properly combined with feeds rich in protein and mineral 
matter, especially calcium and phosphorus, and fed with some bulky feed, such as 
green food or cut clover, corn gives excellent results. Yellow corn produces darker 
colored yolks and yellower body fat than white corn or the other cereals'' 

— Henry and Morrison, "Feeds and Feeding," Page 396 



More Eggs for Less Money 53 

factories or mills having corn or wheat by-products of fairly ques- 
tionable value. 

To accomplish the cheapest and best results, however, there can 
be no compromise with quality — particularly as to digestibility and 
palatability. 

For the wheat-product portion of an egg mash nothing will 
substitute for good, clean bran and standard wheat middlings. 
For the corn portion of the same mash nothing can substitute for 
the palatability and digestibility of the whole corn, nor for the tasty, 
digestible, high-protein, gluten feed. Rolled oats are almost ideal 
wherever they are used in the diet. 

It takes a comparatively small amount of breath to say "Pala- 
tability" and "Digestibility". But those words embrace an impor- 
tant and constant problem to the poultry keeper seeking maximum 
egg production. 

The latter, "Digestibility", of course, includes the question of 
fibre, which has been dwelt on at length in an earlier chapter of 
this booklet. 

The making of a palatable ration, that is at the same time 
digestible and of a proper feeding ratio, is not as easy as it may seem. 
Certainly it is beyond the power of a man with limited equipment 
and facilities, or the miller who insists on regarding his poultry- 
raiser trade as a convenient outlet for whatever by-products he 
happens to have on hand. 

Almost all of the Experimental Stations of the State Colleges 
have worked at this important problem from various angles. The 
Maine formula was, quite frankly, probably the base of the Storr's 
formula, although during the length of the famous nine year ex- 
periment under the pioneer. Professor Gowell, this formula included 
Hnseed meal. Later this linseed meal was, of course, abandoned. 

New Jersey has very remarkable results with their formula, 
which closely followed the Storr's, only differing by not providing 
for one part of gluten feed. What Professor Lewis would have 
accomplished had he been able to substitute rolled oats for whole 
ground oats is quite evident. The fibre content of the Vineland 
formula, however, makes the New Jersey results all the more 
remarkable. 

At Cornell what may possibly be termed the original Cornell 
formula was an evident attempt to get a mash that would feed 
efficiently, i. e., without waste. It was high in meals, middlings, 
and powdery material and was not easy for the bird to swallow. 
It never had the vogue nor the successful use that did the Storr's 
formula. 



54 



More Eggs for Less Money 



The high laying average of Basic P'eeds hens is the reason for 
the popularity of all Basic Feeds products. Read what these 
people say. 



Just a few words in regard to your 
No. 453 Laying Mash. We have a flock 
of loo hens, Hogan tested. The first two 
weelvs in February, they laid an average 
of 19 eggs per day. On the 12th, we 
started on No. 453. The average of this 
past two weeks has been 38, they are 
now laying 50 eggs per day, and doing 
fine. They had been getting a mash ot 
our own mixture until we started 
No. 453. 

Send me a few more order blanks and 
a few No. 31 Bulletins as quite a tew of 
my neighbors call tor them. 

Yours very truly, 

John Beck, 
Gardner, 111. 



Enclosed you will find check for 
$48.30 for order enclosed. I have had a 
little trouble to get people convinced 
regarding the merits of Basic Feeds but 
those who have tried it are highly satis- 
fied with results. One customer in- 
creased his egg yield about 200 percent 
in two weeks. My W. Rock cockerels 
averaged six lbs. at four months and 
one Leghorn made 4^ in four months. I 
think my next orders will be much big- 
ger as this is a mining town and every- 
thing is pretty dull at present. 
Yours truly, 

S. B. CURRIE, 

Divernon, 111, 



I did fine with my birds. I exhibited 
43 birds and got eight firsts, five seconds, 
and four thirds, and one fourth. 

The special prize for the best bird in 
the whole show was won by Mr. J. W. 
McCauley, who uses only Basic Feeds. 
It sure takes a Basic to beat a Basic. 
The birds were in the pink of condition. 
I am a firm believer in "that blood will 
tell," but thanks to your feeds for the 
good conditions of my birds. 

Thanking you for all your favors, 
I remain, 

Yours very truly, 

J. F. Mickey, 
Mickey Poultry Farm, 
Alexandria, Pa. 



Perhaps it may interest you to know 
how my hatches came off. From a total 
number of 245 eggs set from my Park 
Barred Py. Rocks, I hatched 185 chicks 
and from a total number of 352 chicks, 
part of them Jersey Black Giants, I have 
lost so far only three chicks and they 
are now two weeks old. Have followed 
your rules as laid down in your Bulletin, 
"Basic Principles of Chick Welfare." 

I give your laying mash as well as 
chick mash credit for it. It certainly 
satisfies. 

Yours truly, 

Herman Levin, 
Winthrop Harbor, Ind. 



More Eggs for Less Money rr 



At the stations of the western states the problems have been 
attacked from a different point of view. Eastern poultry keepers 
have had to buy practically all their feed materials anyway, so the 
problem has been one of trying to decide zv/iich to buy. In the 
west, as most farms had a variety of grains, the problem has been 
attacked from the point of view of what to buy that would fairly 
well supplement the home grown and the purchased hog-feed 
materials. 

But all experiments have now completely established one thing, 
i. e., that digestibility and palatability are absolutely essential, also 
that the cheapest materials are those which contain those attributes 
and that, if these materials are not obtainable (in proper form) on 
the farm, the practical and economical thing to do is to sell what is 
grown there and buy what conclusive tests have proved are the 
feeds essential in maximum egg production. 

Conclusion 

The Poultry keeper who has carefully reviewed the foregoing 
facts will, it is believed, have arrived at the following very definite 
conclusions: 

First, that a hen's laying capacity is limited by the amount 
of digestible food she consumes. 

Second, that any part of her feeding time or capacity that is 
taken up with indigestible fibre or "filler" reduces her efficiency 
as an egg producer just that much. 

Third, that in order to induce the hen to consume a sufficient 
amount of the proper materials for maximum winter egg production 
only the most tempting and palatable feeds must be used. 

Fourth, that the weight of scientific experiment and practical 
experience, proves conclusively that the formula utilized in the 
manufacture of BASIC BUTTERMILK MASH and BASIC 
SCRATCH FEED is more productive and more economical (when 
measured by results) than any other that has ever been developed. 

It is recognized that there are many conflicting claims as to the 
relative merits of the various feeds which a poultry keeper may 
buy or mix. It is no part of the policy of Basic Feeds Company 
to ask that Basic (formula) Feeds be accepted on the strength of 
the unsupported statement of the maker as to their superiority. 



"The risk which one takes in feeding any foodstuff which has kept badly de- 
pends upon the extent to which deterioration has taken place. The degree to which 
the food is damaged may range from a faint moldy smell to a decomposing and 
offensive-smelling material." — Ibid. Page 311 



^6 More Eggs for Less Money 

The formulas utilized here are not kept as a factory secret. 
They are published where all may see them. One need only com- 
pare the Basic formula with the recommendations of the leading 
poultry experts in the country to decide for himself whether or not 
Basic Feeds provide the maximum in palatability and digestibility. 

Further evidence, on which independent judgment may safely 
be based, is offered in the unsolicited letters from successful poultry 
men that are reproduced throughout this booklet. Particular 
attention is called to the fact that these letters do not offer a mass 
of meaningless flattery but talk in terms of concrete results. 

Note, for example, the following report from Mr. R. H. Watson, 
proprietor of the famous Watson Ancona Farm, located at Morris- 
town, Tennessee: 

"I have been using your laying mash since last December and have 
increased my egg production a little over joo%. It is absolutely the best 
mash I have ever used and / have tried all leading makes." 

Here are specific facts and figures on which to base your decision 
as to whether it will pay you to give Basic Feeds a thorough try- 
out. A 300 percent increase in egg production (particularly during 
the months of highest prices) is certainly worth having. And, as 
the other testimony submitted throughout this booklet shows, such 
substantial gains are the rule, rather than the exception — even 
when the test of Basic Laying Mash has followed the use of the 
best known commercial feeds on the market. 

BASIC FEEDS COMPANY 

1019 State Street Lockport, III. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



002 839 737 9 ^ 



